Nonprofits buy water to aid Galveston Bay ecosystems
KEMAH — A group of nonprofits has purchased 1.6 billion gallons of water to pump into Galveston Bay ecosystems during times of drought.
The nonprofit groups hope the $150,000 purchase will preserve areas sensitive to changes in salinity over the next four years.
Money for the purchase came from $300,000 in grants and was used to by the water from Chambersliberty Counties Navigation District, according to the Galveston Bay Foundation.
During times of drought, the foundation, a group working to protect coastal resources, will release water to specific areas of Galveston Bay to balance out the salinity, Director of Land Conservation Matt Singer said.
During drought, the bay gets saltier, which disrupts a delicate salinity balance needed for oysters, crabs and other animals, he said.
“The bay system is a mixture of fresh water and salt water,” Singer said. “All of these critters rely on that salinity range that’s less than the Gulf of Mexico, but saltier than the river.”
Pumping in fresh water will lower the salinity, he said.
Birds and larger fish also are sensitive to salinity levels because they feed on smaller bay creatures, he said. Birding and recreational fishing industries could be harmed by decline in populations of those animals, he said.
The bay foundation wouldn’t pump water directly into Galveston Bay, he said.
“If we had this amount of water and we released it into the bay, it would get diluted instantly,” Singer said. “We could never replicate that amount of water going into the bay.”
Instead, the water would get pumped into smaller, 1,000- to 3,000acre systems that are somewhat secluded, he said.
Water in these systems would be somewhat contained for a while, Singer said.
Water purchases for environmental purposes are common across the country, but are somewhat new in Texas, said Sharlene Leurig, CEO of Texas Water Trade.
“Where we have seen the most environmental water transactions have been where there are endangered species like salmon and trout,” Leurig said.
The organization, founded in 2019, helps nonprofits, municipalities or other entities negotiate water purchases meant for environmental benefit.
Although the coast typically receives more rainfall than other parts of Texas, Galveston Bay still is overcoming the damaging impacts of a drought in 2011, she said.
“We saw this a lot with oyster populations,” Leurig said. “The point of this project is to allow us to create refuges. It’s in case of a rainy day.”
The bay foundation’s water will be stored on private land and can be used over four years, Singer said.
The groups are also partnering with The Nature Conservancy on the project.