By Ratliff S.B. No. 298
74R2817 JJT-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to water quality standards.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 26.023, Water Code, is amended to read as
1-5 follows:
1-6 Sec. 26.023. Water Quality Standards. (a) The commission
1-7 by rule shall set water quality standards for the water in the
1-8 state and may amend the standards from time to time. The
1-9 commission has the sole and exclusive authority to set water
1-10 quality standards for all water in the state.
1-11 (b) The commission shall consider the existence and effects
1-12 of nonpoint source pollution, toxic materials, and nutrient loading
1-13 in developing water quality standards and related waste load models
1-14 for water quality.
1-15 (c) Water quality standards shall consist of designated uses
1-16 of water and water quality criteria necessary to maintain the
1-17 designated uses.
1-18 (d) In adopting water quality standards, the commission:
1-19 (1) shall designate uses of water and water quality
1-20 criteria that, during hydrologic conditions that include the
1-21 low-flow conditions used in establishing discharge permit limits,
1-22 are consistent with conditions that would be attained and
1-23 maintained in the natural environment or with conditions that may
1-24 result from impacts not regulated under state or federal law;
2-1 (2) may designate seasonal uses or criteria consistent
2-2 with this section and based on seasonally compiled water flow and
2-3 water quality information;
2-4 (3) may designate uses or criteria applicable during
2-5 periods of significant storm water runoff that are consistent with
2-6 conditions that would be attained and maintained in the natural
2-7 environment during such a period or with conditions that may result
2-8 from impacts not regulated under state or federal law; and
2-9 (4) may not establish a dissolved oxygen criterion of
2-10 greater than 3.0 milligrams per liter that is applicable to a
2-11 perennial unclassified stream unless the commission determines,
2-12 relying on appropriate technical information for the affected body
2-13 of water, that an aquatic life use that requires more dissolved
2-14 oxygen would be attained and maintained in the natural environment
2-15 or under conditions that may result from impacts not regulated
2-16 under state or federal law.
2-17 (e) In the notice of proposed rule-making for a new water
2-18 quality standard or an amendment to a water quality standard, the
2-19 commission shall include a statement of the technical basis for
2-20 each element of the proposal and a reference to the technical
2-21 information and studies on which the commission relies in
2-22 formulating each proposed criterion or presumption. The commission
2-23 shall make available to the public the technical information and
2-24 studies that support the proposed rule, including the information
2-25 or studies supporting each proposed criterion or presumption.
2-26 (f) The commission by rule shall establish a procedure by
2-27 which the commission shall adjust the water quality criteria
3-1 applicable to a body of water if the commission determines, relying
3-2 on appropriate technical information, that the designated use of
3-3 the water is adequately maintained in that body of water under
3-4 water quality conditions that are lower than the applicable water
3-5 quality criteria.
3-6 SECTION 2. If, on the effective date of this Act, there is
3-7 in effect a dissolved oxygen standard for a stream that does not
3-8 conform to Section 26.023, Water Code, as amended by this Act, the
3-9 Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission shall adopt a new
3-10 dissolved oxygen standard for the stream in accordance with that
3-11 section as soon as is practicable but not later than December 31,
3-12 1995. A dissolved oxygen standard that does not conform to Section
3-13 26.023, Water Code, as amended by this Act, may be enforced until
3-14 December 31, 1995, or until the date a new enforceable standard
3-15 takes effect, whichever is sooner.
3-16 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-22 passage, and it is so enacted.