Reference
Texas
Your source for information about water rights from coast to coast
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Reference Texas Your source for information about water rights from coast to coast |
| Type of state | Prior appropriation, generally, with variations. |
| Water supply |
Widely varied. Water is ample in some areas, especially along the Gulf Coast and in the northeastern part of the state. But much of the rest is arid and has to manage water supplies carefully, and southwestern areas even adjacent to the Rio Grande, are stark desert. Texas also has undergone severe drought through most of the nineties, though conditions eased in 1997. |
| Water use |
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| Controlling law |
After decades of minor changes (and complaints from a number of people that the law was not keeping up with the times), Texas water law went through two revolutions in the nineties. The first was in 1991, when the Texas Water Commission, which had been a small, limited agency, was expanded into the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission; the next year, the old Texas Water Drillers Board and Board of Irrigators (this provides some sense of what had been considerable fragmentation in Texas water policy) were abolished, their duties folded into the NRCC. The other massive change came in 1997, prompted by several preceding years of drought, and the need for a statewide drought management policy. That entailed a detailed review of water right and transfer policies, and numerous changes were included in Senate Bill 1. |
| Water rights |
Many of the touchiest water problems in Texas relate to the Edwards Aquifer, a massive underground stream which provides water for much of central and western Texas. Used heavily by the city of San Antonio and many others, as well as many rural residents, the Aquifer has been drawn down, and western water users have said they are concerned springs may begin to dry. One 1989 lawsuit sought a declaration of the Edwards as a stream, and subject to regulation similar to that of surface waters.
The Texas Water Commission, in the last years of its existence, established a permit system for use of the aquifer, requiring a filing by September 1, 1992, and a showing of beneficial use. All that was followed in 1993 by creation (by the Texas Legislature) of an Edwards Aquifer Authority (with responsibility for use permits), set up mostly in response to a lawsuit by the Sierra Club, which argued that excessive withdrawals from the Aquifer had endangered various species.
Many of the touchiest water problems in Texas relate to the Edwards Aquifer, a massive underground stream which provides water for much of central and western Texas. Used heavily by the city of San Antonio and many others, as well as many rural residents, the Aquifer has been drawn down, and western water users have said they are concerned springs may begin to dry. One 1989 lawsuit sought a declaration of the Edwards as a stream, and subject to regulation similar to that of surface waters.
The Texas Water Commission, in the last years of its existence, established a permit system for use of the aquifer, requiring a filing by September 1, 1992, and a showing of beneficial use. All that was followed in 1993 by creation (by the Texas Legislature) of an Edwards Aquifer Authority (with responsibility for use permits), set up mostly in response to a lawsuit by the Sierra Club, which argued that excessive withdrawals from the Aquifer had endangered various species. |
| Interstate relations |
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| Litigation |
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| Analysis |