Texas Water: Amount, Uses and Law

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Texas Water Amount, Uses and Law

• by
• Ronald Kaiser
• Professor Chair of Graduate Water Degree
  Program
• Texas AM University
• http//www.tamu.edu/rakwater
• http//texaswater.tamu.edu

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Texas Water Resources

• Surface Water Lakes, Rivers, Streams, Bays,
  Gulf of Mexico
• Runoff on your Land
• Groundwater Percolating in soil and in Aquifers

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Three Eras of Texas Water History

• Development Initial Allocation
• Conservation Awakening
• Transfers/Conservation/ Reservoirs?

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Development/Allocation 1895-1980

• SURFACE WATER LAW (State owned)
• State Owned
• Water Rights Adjudication Act 1967
• GROUNDWATER LAW (Private Property)
• East Case (1904)
• Ozarka case (1999)
• Start of Groundwater Conservation Districts
• INSTITUTIONS
• Local Water Districts (
• River Authorities (1928 BRA)
• Tx Bd. Of Water Engineers, TWC, TDWR,
• GCDs 1949
• RESERVOIR DEVELOPMENT
• DROUGHTS (32, 38, 47, 50s 80s 90s)
• PLANNING ( STATE PLANS 1961, 1968, 1984, 1990,
  1997, 2002, 2007)

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Reservoir Construction
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A Texas Reservoir
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Conservation Awakening 1980-1997
Planning Dividing Dept of Water Resources 1984,
1990, 1997 Water Planmore reservoirs Law Inflows
for Bays Estuaries1985 Conservation Plans
Required--1985 Conservation Fund for
Farmers1984 SB 1 - - 1997
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More Management Options 1997-today
Planning 2002, 2007 Build more
reservoirs Management options conservation,
transfers, reuse, reservoir reallocation,
desalination Law Edwards Aquifer
Authority-1993 Senate Bill 11997 More GCDs -
-SB 2 SB 3--2007
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2007 Plan Projections
Population will double to 40 million by 2050
Water Use about 17 MAF today Water Use will be
21 MAF in 2050 Water Supplies Surface Water about
15 MAF Groundwater about 6 MAF Water Supply
Strategies Municipal and agricultural irrigation
conservation Build 14 more reservoirs Transfer
water from East to Central Texas Reuse of treated
effluent More wells Agricultural Irrigation use
will decline Agriculture to Urban water transfers
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Surface Water Supplies

• Factoids
• 191,000 river miles in Texas
• 15 major river basins 8 coastal basins
• 11,250 named rivers, streams, creeks
• 6,700 tanks, pond and lakes
• 6,200 water rights holders
• 90 surface water rights held by 200 holders
• 7 MAF of surface water used in 2008
• Reservoir Factoids
• 211 reservoirs holding more than 5,000 acre-feet
• 95 of storage is contained in just 75
  reservoirs
• River Factoids
• 12/15 river basins fully appropriated

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Surface Water Supplies

• Factoids
• 191,000 river miles in Texas
• 15 major river basins 8 coastal basins
• 11,250 named rivers, streams, creeks
• 6,700 tanks, pond and lakes
• 6,200 water rights holders
• 90 surface water rights held by 200 holders
• 7 MAF of surface water used in 2008
• Reservoir Factoids
• 211 reservoirs holding more than 5,000 acre-feet
• 95 of storage is contained in just 75
  reservoirs
• River Factoids
• 12/15 river basins fully appropriated

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Surface Water Supplies
Major Reservoirs by River Basin Brazos
43 Canadian 3 Colorado 31 Cypress 10
Guadalupe 4 Lavaca 1 Neches 10 Nueces 3 Red
23 Rio Grande 8 Sabine 11 San Antonio 3 San
Jacinto 5 Sulphur 4 Trinity 31
50 of Firm Yield of all these Reservoirs is
held in Sabine, Neches, Trinity rivers which are
East of I-45
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75 Major Texas Reservoirs

• 95 of all Texas surface water storage held in
  these 75 Reservoirs

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Surface Water Storage
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Groundwater Supplies

• Factoids
• Nearly 60 of statewide use from groundwater
• 9 major aquifers supply 97 of groundwater
• Ogallala supplies 66 of all groundwater used in
  Texas and 38 of all water used.
• 80 of Texas overlies an aquifer
• Groundwater supplies more than 55 of water in
  134 of 254 Texas Counties
• Agriculture uses 80 of all groundwater
  (statewide)
• Groundwater mining extraction exceeds recharge
• Capture rule applies in areas with a GCD.
• GCDs can adopted different allocational rules
  capture, reasonable use, correlative rights,
  historic use
• Groundwater transfers to cities increasing

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AQUIFER USE AVAILABILITY
AQUIFER Estimated Estimated
Pumping AF/Yr Available AF/Yr
Ogallala 6,200,000 5,968,000 Edwards
230,000 950,000 Carrizo 430,000
1,015,000 Trinity 180,000
206,000 Gulf Coast 1,150,000 1,825,000 Bolsons
96,000 183,000 Pecos Seymour
270,000 442,000 Total
Majors 8,556,000 10,589,000 Minor
Aquifers 774,000 2,111,000 ALL AQUIFERS
9,300,000 12,700,00 Data from 2003 From
2007 State Plan
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Groundwater Use by County
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Uses of Texas Water

• About 16 million acre/ft/year
• Agricultural Irrigation
• Municipal residential, commercial
• Industrial factories, power plants
• Environmental bays, rivers, riparian habitat
• Others hydro, mining, ranching

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Texas Water Uses

• Amount Used16 maf
• Groundwater (60)
• Surface Water (40)
• Users
• Agriculture 60 (9.6 maf)
• Municipal 25 (4.0 maf)
• Industrial 9 (1.4 maf)
• Others 6 (1.0 maf)

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Texas Water Sources and Uses
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Where do we irrigate with 9 million/acre feet

• Panhandle 65
• The Valley 20
• Abilene/Midland Odessa 5
• Winter Gardens 5
• Rest of Texas 10

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Where is most of the 4 million acre/feet of
municipal water used

• Dallas Metroplex 37
• Houston Area 22
• San Antonio 10
• The Valley 5
• Austin 5
• El Paso 5
• Rest of Texas 16

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Brazos County Bryan College Station48,000
acre feet

• Municipal 62
• Irrigation 23
• Manufacturing 8
• Other 7
• enough water to cover all of Brazos county to a
  depth of 2 inches
• Our water comes from Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer
  formations.

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Texas Water Laws

• Natural Surface Water Public Ownership
• Groundwater Private Ownership
• Diffused Surface Water Private ownership
• Underflow of Streams Public ownership
• Rainfall Private Ownership on your property

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State Owned Surface WaterTCEQ Administered

• Water found in watercourses
• Ordinary flow
• Underflow
• Tides of every flowing natural watercourse
• Storm water and flood water
• Spring flows forming headwaters

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Acquiring Surface Water

• New State Appropriation--12/15
• 6,500 permits
• 90 by 200 permit holders
• Water Transfers/Marketing
• Intrabasin Transfersmany
• Interbasin Transfersabout 100
• Lease/Purchase from Others
• Water Supply Contracts

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Stock Tank Exception

• Impound up to 200 Acre-Feet W/O Permit
• Domestic, livestock, wildlife and fishing
• Fish Wildlife qualified open space
• May temporarily store more than 200 AF
• Not to commercial operations.
• Must apply for permit to use for non-exempt
  purposes

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Diffused Surface Water

• Water not in any defined watercourse
• Rain runoff
• Snow runoff
• Property of the landowner until the water enters
  a watercourse.
• Stock Tank Exceptionnot applicable

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Texas Groundwater Law

• Rule of Capture 1904 East 1999 Sipriano
• Texas landowners can pump unlimited quantities of
  water from beneath their land, without liability
  for harm to surrounding landowner wells.
  (Exceptions apply).
• Landowner Rights
• Access right
• Drilling right
• Ownership right to captured water
• Use right on or off property
• Sales right
• Export right

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Texas Groundwater Law
Judicial Exceptions Malice Waste Land
Subsidence from negligent pumping No Slant
Wells Legislative Exceptions Underflow of a
river Edwards Aquifer Authority Groundwater
Conservation Districts
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Groundwater Conservation Districts95

• ? Mandated Duties
• Plan Adopt a Management Plan
• Keep Records of Wells Water Use
• Register certain wells (25,000gpd exempt)
• Adopt Governance Rules

• ? Optional Duties
• Can Exempt all Wells from Registration
• Well Spacing Pumping Limits
• Buy and sell water
• Require permits for transfers

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Groundwater Districts Coverage of Major Aquifers
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Brazos Valley GCD Regulations

• Requires wells to be registered
• Exempt from Spacing Production limits
• Less than 50,000gpd domestic and livestock use
• Well Spacing based on production of well
• Production Limits based on acreage
• Fees based on production

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Concluding Observations

• Surface water long accepted as public resource
  with uniform rules
• Groundwater a private property resource with
  different rulescapture, reasonable use,
  correlative rights, pumping limits?
• Evolving role for GCDs especially in urbanizing
  areas?
• More GCD litigation over rules
• Groundwater is plentiful but we have legal
  scarcity as a result of rules of the Brazos
  Valley GCD