Sharing the Common Pool: Water Rights in the Everyday Lives of Texans

8. Who Regulates Water Use?

78 ] The rights to water and the conditions under which it may be used are further complicated in Texas because they are directly and indirectly subject to the jurisdiction of a myriad of governmental agencies, including these: • Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; • Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; • one or more of the 99 groundwater conservation districts across the state; • other special districts, such as the Edwards Aquifer Authority and the Houston-Galveston Subsidence District; • municipalities, some of which are very powerful and influential, such as the San Antonio Water System (SAWS); • river authorities, such as the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) • US Fish and Wildlife Service; • US Environmental Protection Agency; • rules of the Watermaster Program in Texas; • rules and regulations of irrigation districts around Texas; and • Texas Water Development Board. 8 WHO REGULATES WATER USE? [ 79 Who Regulates Water Use? This chapter, for the purposes of clarity and space, discusses in detail GCDs, the Edwards Aquifer Authority, the Watermaster Program, and the river authorities, with focus on the LCRA. Keep in mind that each municipality and many counties may also exert some jurisdiction over water in their areas. Some federal agencies have supralegal authority over the state agencies, but since the federal agencies are rarely involved in the day-to-day permitting and water management, detail about their activities is not included. I do mention, where appropriate, the significant effect of the federal agencies on any one water management and allocation situation statewide. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has an impact on water management policies mostly through the wildlife management plans it supports statewide. GROUNDWATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTS Groundwater conservation districts manage most of the groundwater in Texas, and the Texas legislature has asserted on a recurring basis that it prefers that groundwater be managed by GCDs.1 The map depicts the locations of the individual Texas GCDs. The areas in white have no GCD at this time (although Kirk Holland believes that “every square inch of ground in Texas should be in a groundwater conservation district”).2 In the areas where no GCD exists, there is no management or protection of groundwater. Without a GCD, landowners risk a loss of their groundwater, not only to adjacent landowners with the same rights for local use but also to those who would transfer large amounts of groundwater to other areas of the state. This should cause a great deal of alarm and consternation for people living in those unprotected areas. For example , one area without a GCD is Val Verde County, the home county of the City of Del Rio. Del Rio was warned by its own consulting engineer of its impending risks in not being covered by a GCD; however, the local people I personally interviewed feel creation of a GCD in their area by local election is not probable in the near future—maybe ever. As an example of a different anomaly in groundwater management in Texas with potential negative impact on both the aquifer and public attitude toward conservation, the City of Austin’s groundwater north of the Colorado River is not covered by a GCD. The imposition of watering restrictions during drought and the increasingly high cost of lawn irrigation have spurred the installation of hundreds of private water wells within the city’s service area since 2006, with essentially no re- How Is Water Used? 80 ] strictions on their spacing or the amount of water produced by each, in an area already adequately served by centralized water supplies.3 The impact on the aquifer of these new wells and their interference with each other, especially during prolonged drought, are unknown at this time. But the sense of a reduced need for conservation among those generally well-heeled private well owners and the inequity perceived by other landowners without such wells make sorely needed water conGroundwater Conservation Districts as of 2013. Courtesy Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. [ 81 Who Regulates Water Use? servation, regardless of water source, more difficult and of concern to water managers. How Groundwater Conservation Districts Are Created The Groundwater Conservation District Act of 1949 provided for conservation and development of groundwater with GCDs as managers, and in 1951 High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 became the first GCD created in Texas. Chapters 35 and 36 of the Texas Water Code describe (1) the specific legal authority granted GCDs relating to the management of groundwater and (2) the administrative governance...