Commissioners to help organic farm

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Travis County Commissioners Court agreed late Tuesday to help a local organic farm with its water woes.

Tecolote Farm watered its crops on the East side of the county with a well that had not gone dry since it was drilled decades ago, even surviving the severe drought of the 1950s.

That was before the county drilled wells to service a large new metropolitan park down the road. A county study said its wells were not the problem, but farm owners David and Katie Pitre countered with their own ground water hydrologists who disagreed.

From the beginning, county officials vowed to help Tecolote if it could be established the county did dry up the farm well. At least one commissioner, however, worried that any help to the farm would establish a precedent that might later work against taxpayers' interests.

The debate went on for weeks while the Pitres resorted to paying household rates for chlorinated water to water their plants, a practice they say will eventually force them out of business.

The farmers have been gratified by an outpouring of support from customers, environmentalists and other sustainable growers. Tuesday's court session was no exception.

"We need sustainable, healthy, local food," Save Our Springs Alliance Director Bill Bunch told the court. "We need these farms close in and accessible to the urban dwellers."

"It is just a treasure to be able to have this kind of substance to eat and to live on and to share with our families," said customer James Green.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to get into the entire issue and let's do it right and support our organic farmers," customer Melanie McAfee told commissioners.

Meanwhile, University of Texas Professor Jack Sharp told the court he plans to conduct a five-day on-site study of the farm's water issues in late May. Sharp, who teaches in the university's Department of Geological Sciences, said he will use his Hydrology Field Methods class students to conduct the study without charge to the Pitres or the county.

The court welcomed the offer and after considering the measure in closed session with county lawyers, voted to pay for the drilling of up to five test holes on the property when the study is complete.

Asked if the county was admitting responsibility for Tecolote's dry well, County Judge Sam Biscoe said, "We won't go that far; that could get us in trouble. You know the lawyers."

Still, Katie Pitre was encouraged.

"It’s not dead yet," she said of the effort to save the farm.

Here is the commissioner's court meeting where they discussed Tecolote Farms: