BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — The City of Bryan Sues to Block Out-of-State Interests from Raiding Brazos Valley Water.
The City of Bryan has partnered with the Texas A&M University System, Brazos County, and the City of College Station to file a formal protest with the state office of administrative hearings and a lawsuit in state district court to stop an out-of-state entity from draining the vital water resources of the Brazos Valley.
On November 8, several Robertson County property owners, including UW Brazos Valley Farm LLC, filed a motion for summary judgment regarding this lawsuit.
San Francisco-based Upwell LLC, which is backed by over $1 billion in capital from New York and Wall Street investors, is pursuing permits to extract up to 100,000 acre-feet of water annually from the Simsboro Aquifer, a critical water source for communities, agriculture, and institutions in the Brazos Valley.
This amount of water is equivalent to over two times the amount currently used annually by the cities of Bryan, Calvert, College Station, Franklin, and Hearne – combined.
In pursuing these water claims, the City of Bryan is concerned about the long-term sustainability of water in the Brazos Valley.
“Our community has worked diligently to protect and manage these water resources,” Mayor Bobby Gutierrez said.