Premium
Ground‐Water Basin Management on the High Plains of Texas a
Author(s) -
Rayner Frank A.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1972.tb03585.x
Subject(s) - commission , legislature , groundwater , easement , law , state legislature , structural basin , public administration , political science , geography , environmental planning , engineering , geology , paleontology , geotechnical engineering
The present popularity for the discussion of the merits of ground‐water management has resulted in a dirth of papers espousing the theoretical principles for such management. The vast majority of the authors of such papers favor the control of ground‐water pumpage based upon “appropriated” (permitted by State government) water rights. In Texas, the private ownership of ground water is guaranteed by the Texas Constitution. This right of private ownership has been reaffirmed many times by court case, and embodied in House Bill 162, 51st Legislature, 1949, and recodified as Chapter 52 by House Bill 343, 62nd Legislature, 1971. Under this law, local ground‐water conservation districts were created, whereunder ground‐water basin management has been practiced in Texas for over two decades. Chapter 52 gives broad powers to ground‐water districts created thereunder, and specifically delegates authority to such districts to promulgate and enforce rules “… to provide for conserving, preserving, protecting, recharging and preventing waste of the underground water…” The Texas Legislature, the Texas Water Rights Commission, and county commissioner's courts may create underground water conservation districts, with the Water Rights Commission delineating the underground reservoir or subdivisions thereof. The first ground‐water district created pursuant to Chapter 52, and the largest district in Texas, covering 8,149 square miles in the Texas High Plains, is the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1. This District is governed by a five‐member Board of Directors elected for two‐year terms by qualified voters residing within the District. Each of the 15 counties in the District also has an elected five‐member County Committee and, in most cases, an office and a County Secretary. This report outlines the procedures for the creation of ground‐water conservation districts, and summarizes the structure, powers, and functions of the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1. Although ground water in Texas is recognized as private property, and therefore, is subject to the “absolute ownership” doctrine, the residents and landowners of the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 recognized over 21 years ago that ground water is held in public trust, and thereby provided for its management by this District under the “reasonable use” doctrine.