As with any regulated activity over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, KBDJ is required to submit a water pollution abatement plan (WPAP) to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Our WPAP includes buffer zones, rock and earthen berms, silt fences, retention ponds, and many other measures designed to minimize the effect of mining activities on the Edwards Aquifer. The WPAP was reviewed and approved by the TCEQ in 2004 and subsequently affirmed by the 353rd Judicial District Court of Travis County in November 2007.

In addition, KBDJ has voluntarily implemented several measures that are not required by the state and not historically utilized by quarries operating over the recharge zone. For example, in order to assure our neighbors that we will not be competing for the same aquifer water, we will draw water from the deeper Trinity Aquifer, instead of the Edwards Aquifer, where our neighbors pump their drinking water. The deeper well cost KBDJ in excess of $150,000, but we felt it was a fair and worthwhile investment.

Even though the quarry will not utilize Edwards Aquifer water, KBDJ spent an additional $30,000 to install a well strictly for monitoring the water quality of the Edwards (in addition to our two monitoring wells in the Trinity). Our water quality reports are submitted to the TCEQ, and confirm that KBDJ’s quarrying operations in no way threaten the water supply.