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House Bill 3 |
House Author: Puente et al. |
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Effective: See below |
Senate Sponsor: Averitt |
House Bill 3 amends the Water Code to create a process for developing and adopting environmental flow standards for each of several Texas river basins and bay systems. The process involves participation by an environmental advisory group of agency and legislative officials, a Texas environmental flows science advisory committee, and, for each river basin and bay system, a stakeholders committee and an expert science team, toward the development of environmental flow regime recommendations. As defined in the bill, an environmental flow regime is a schedule of flow quantities, reflecting seasonal and yearly fluctuations and typically varying geographically, to maintain aquatic-based habitats and a sound ecological environment. The bill requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), by September 1, 2010, to adopt environmental flow standards for each river basin and bay system, taking into consideration specified criteria and other public interests and relevant factors, and to establish set-aside amounts of unappropriated water, if available, to be able to satisfy those standards to the maximum extent reasonable when considering human water needs. The standards and set-asides would then become relevant to certain water rights permitting. New water appropriations permits or new water rights amendments that increase the amount of surface water authorized to be stored, taken, or diverted are required to include a provision allowing the TCEQ to adjust permit or water right conditions in certain circumstances in support of instream flows (freshwater amounts moving along streams and rivers) or freshwater inflows (freshwater amounts entering bays and estuaries). The bill authorizes the TCEQ, in emergency situations, to make set-aside water temporarily available for other essential uses not related to environmental flows. It prohibits the issuance of a new water rights permit for environmental flows, although it allows the TCEQ to approve an application to amend an existing permit or certificate of adjudication to change the use to or add a use for such flows. The bill includes additional Water Code provisions relating to watermasters, studies of flow conditions, water rights held in the Texas Water Trust, penalties for unlawful water diversions, and other issues.
The bill also amends the enabling statute for the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA). It increases to 572,000 acre-feet the allowable annual withdrawals from the aquifer, matching the quantity for which permits have been issued, and eliminates provisions relating to the retirement of permits to achieve a lower maximum. The bill places pumpage restrictions applicable to drought conditions, previously contained in EAA rules, into the statute and strengthens those restrictions. The bill authorizes the EAA to undertake certain aquifer recharge activities and requires the EAA to develop a recovery implementation program to preserve endangered species in the Edwards Aquifer area through a consensus-based process involving certain state and federal agencies, a new steering committee and expert science committee, and interested stakeholders. Provisions of the bill relating to the EAA take effect June 15, 2007. The rest of the bill takes effect September 1, 2007.