By: Sims S.B. No. 1207 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT 1-1 relating to the development of water resources and granting 1-2 authority to the Texas Water Development Board. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the 1993 Water 1-5 Resources Act. It is the policy of the state to provide for the 1-6 public welfare by insuring the availability of essential public 1-7 water supplies while affording reasonable and necessary protection 1-8 to our natural environmental. The Texas Water Development Board is 1-9 the agency of the state charged with the task of implementing the 1-10 state's water supply policy. 1-11 SECTION 2. CERTAIN MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLIES. In counties 1-12 having a population of 500,000 or more, no more than forty percent 1-13 of the municipal water supply may be dependent on the yield of a 1-14 single reservoir or aquifer. These water supplies must be 1-15 supported by multiple sources of water sufficient to provide this 1-16 ratio of safety. 1-17 SECTION 3. GRADUAL REDUCTION OF DEPENDENCE (a) In counties 1-18 subject to the limitation in the preceding section on the date of 1-19 this Act, the reduction in dependence on a major source of water 1-20 supply shall be gradual, according to the following descending 1-21 scale of dependence. 1-22 Municipal water suppliers must secure sufficient alternate 1-23 supplies to provide no more than 90 percent of total supplies from 2-1 any one source by 1998, no more than 75 percent from any one source 2-2 by 2010, no more than 55 percent from any one source by 2020, no 2-3 more than 40 percent from any one source by 2030. 2-4 (b) Municipal water suppliers may contract with the Texas 2-5 Water Development Board to provide for the development and 2-6 management of alternate water supplies to meet the requirements of 2-7 this Act. Enforceable water development contracts with the 2-8 Development Board entered into no later than December 31, 1994, are 2-9 deemed to satisfy the descending scale of dependence requirements. 2-10 SECTION 4. SURFACE WATER SUPPLY AUTHORIZED (a) The Texas 2-11 Water Development Board shall construct with all deliberate speed a 2-12 reservoir in DeWitt and Gonzales Counties approximately five miles 2-13 northwest of the town of Cuero on Sandies Creek in the Guadalupe 2-14 River Basin to provide surface water supplies. 2-15 (b) The Texas Water Development Board is granted the right 2-16 to impound and store the waters of the state in an amount not to 2-17 exceed 606,276 acre-feet annually and to use that amount of water 2-18 at any location determined by the Development Board for any lawful 2-19 purpose. In addition, the Development Board may recapture 2-20 springflows at this or any other location for reuse at the springs 2-21 or to supplement the use of groundwater. No additional authority 2-22 from any agency of the state is necessary for the construction of 2-23 this reservoir or the use of water authorized by this Act. 2-24 SECTION 5. SPRING HABITAT PROTECTION AUTHORIZED 2-25 The Texas Water Development Board shall research, plan, and 3-1 construct facilities necessary to assure the continuous protection 3-2 of the habitat of the endangered species at Comal Springs in Comal 3-3 County and San Marcos Springs in Hays County. The Development 3-4 Board may assess a fee sufficient to recover its costs on water 3-5 users obtaining water from the Edwards Aquifer directly or 3-6 indirectly. Fees shall be based on the comparative value of the 3-7 aquifer water developed for use by the facilities and devices 3-8 employed by the Development Board for the benefit of the users. 3-9 SECTION 6. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. The importance of this 3-10 legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both 3-11 houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that 3-12 the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 3-14 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its 3-15 terms, and it is so enacted.