By: Carriker S.B. No. 158
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to authority to regulate underground water.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 28.001, Water Code, is amended to read as
1-4 follows:
1-5 Sec. 28.001. Definitions. In this chapter:
1-6 (1) "Commission" means the Texas Natural Resource
1-7 Conservation Commission <Texas Water Commission>.
1-8 (2) "Executive Director" means the executive director
1-9 of the <Texas Water> Commission.
1-10 (3) "Shaft" means any vertically oriented excavation,
1-11 whether constructed by drilling or mining techniques, where the
1-12 depth of the excavation is greater than its diameter, the
1-13 excavation penetrates into or through the base of the uppermost
1-14 water-bearing strata, and the primary purpose of the excavation is
1-15 the transport of workers and materials to and from a destination,
1-16 at depth, for purposes of geological studies, access to existing
1-17 and planned subsurface mine workings, or for ventilation of those
1-18 workings.
1-19 (4) "Underground water" means water percolating below
1-20 the surface of the earth and that is suitable for agricultural,
1-21 gardening, domestic, or stock raising purposes, but does not
1-22 include defined subterranean streams or the underflow of rivers.
1-23 (5) "Water" or "water in the state" means groundwater,
2-1 percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding
2-2 reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes,
2-3 inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico inside the territorial limits of
2-4 the state, and all other bodies of natural and artificial surface
2-5 water that is inland or coastal, fresh or salt, and navigable or
2-6 nonnavigable, and includes the beds and banks of all watercourses
2-7 and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or
2-8 bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state.
2-9 (6) <(5)> "Surface facilities" means the on-site
2-10 above-ground appurtenances, structures, equipment, and other
2-11 fixtures that are or will be used for storage or processing or in
2-12 conjunction with the shaft operation.
2-13 SECTION 2. Section 28.011, Water Code, is amended to read as
2-14 follows:
2-15 Sec. 28.011. Underground Water: Regulations. (a) The
2-16 commission may make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations to
2-17 preserve and protect the quality of underground water.
2-18 (b) This section does not authorize the commission to limit
2-19 the consumption of underground water, but does not impliedly
2-20 repeal, revise, or amend commission authority to regulate water
2-21 under other law. <The commission shall make and enforce rules and
2-22 regulations for conserving, protecting, preserving, and
2-23 distributing underground, subterranean, and percolating water
2-24 located in this state and shall do all other things necessary for
2-25 these purposes.>
3-1 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect on September 1, 1993.
3-2 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.