Addendum to Regional Water Supply Facilities Plan Final Report (April 2011) Page: 2-1
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APRIL 2011
Water Rights
Texas Water Rights
Regulations
In Texas, surface water bodies are the
property of the state but the right to use
surface water for specific purposes such
as irrigation or industrial is a private
property right. Today these water rights
are regulated by the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
which is responsible for issuing and
administering water rights in Texas.
Groundwater is privately owned by the
owner of the land above it and the
owners may pump all the water they can
from beneath their land regardless of the
impact to nearby landowners unless the
water is regulated.
According to the Texas Water Code,
Section 11.021, water owned by the state
includes water of ordinary flow,
underflow, and tides of every flowing
water, natural stream, and lake; and of
every bay or arm of the Gulf of Mexico;
and the storm water, floodwater, and
rainwater of every river, natural stream,
canyon, ravine, depression, and
watershed in the State, and the water
imported from any source outside the
boundaries of the state for use in the
state which is transported through the
beds and banks of any navigable stream
within the state or by utilizing any
facilities owned or operated by the state.
In general, all users that divert or store
water in Texas are required to possess a
water right that authorizes, as necessary,a specified amount of water that can be
diverted from a particular stream or
reservoir, the maximum rate of
diversion, the maximum storage capacity
of a reservoir, and in the case of
irrigation, the location of the fields that
are to be irrigated.
Texas law states that diffused surface
water - stormwater runoff and sheet flow
- is not state water. These waters do not
flow in any defined water course, but
rather cross the surface of the earth in
variant and unregulated ways. Diffused
surface water is subject to capture and
use by the landowner. Once this water
enters a stream, river, or other state
water body, it becomes state water.
As discussed in Section 4.8.4 of 2011
Region M Regional Water Plan,
captured stormwater could be made
available for local use provided it has
not been appropriated to any existing
water rights. The 2011 Region M
Regional Water Plan considers all
stormwater flowing into the Rio Grande
or the Arroyo Colorado as having been
appropriated to existing water rights and
unavailable for development.REGIONAL WATER SUPPLY FACILITIES PLAN
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Civil Systems Engineering, Inc. Addendum to Regional Water Supply Facilities Plan Final Report (April 2011), report, May 2011; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth839161/m1/97/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.