BIG changes in water rights are approaching quickly in Texas

[Dover]

Either in the next legislative session or very soon thereafter water rights will fundamentally change in Texas. The Rule of Capture will be null and void, and replaced by Water Districts and Water Masters (enforced by legislative directive) and given the power to make decisions about surface and subsurface water on Texan's lands. This restructuring has already begun, but will soon be made mandatory. They will also likely be charged more....as they continue to say that people are not yet paying the "REAL COSTS" of water (currently they are paying just for the process involoved in getting it to them, but soon will pay for the water itself).

Land owners may be told they can NOT drill a well. On the other hand many wealthy landowners with existing wells may be able to get into the water 'business' and sell water to cities and out of state.
In fact, this 'marketing' of water is part of the Water District's jobs and will serve primarily the cities needs for water.

The wealthy Texans who are ahead of this curve are the ones who will cash in. And while there are certainly plenty of reasons why water use needs to be regulated, the corruption taints that process with incidents of highway robbery. The lawyers should make a bundle...as usual.

To get more info (which is pretty scant and fluid at the moment) call or visit TNRCC who is primarily responsible for designing and implementing these changes. http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/

Found this helpful page posted by a law firm who specializes in water rights, apparently:

http://www.bickerstaff.com/waterlawfeature/kaiser.htm

[Gman]

1. Sounds like a Texas Klamath Falls shaping up here

You're talking many, many years of law that will be thrown out. You're talking a mentality of "No one tells me if I can or can't drill a well on my property."

Just more of the RW's move to privatize water. Soon, they'll be charging for the "real cost" of the air you breathe. Air will be the last thing left that they don't charge for.

[mourningdove92]

2. I am certainly not rich, but I do already have a well on my

property. I guess the next thing I can look forward to is the powers that be coming in and putting a meter on my well.

[VelmaD]

3. This was a part of the redistricting fight

All the old rural districts in East Texas are gone now...the voters split up and shoved into districts with the Houston or Dallas suburbs. I heard many of the representatives (and the public) from East Texas testify in the redistricting hearings about how this would impact water rights...that they knew that suburban voters would overwhelm them when it came time to vote and that water rights was an issue where they had fundamentally different interests. With all the old rural districts gone and the new districts more heavily weighted in the suburbs, I don't have to wonder whose interests will prevail. *sigh*