By:  Armbrister                                       S.C.R. No. 63
         99S1135/1                           
                            SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, The protection and maintenance of groundwater
 1-2     quality is an important goal of the State of Texas; and
 1-3           WHEREAS, The preservation, conservation, protection, and
 1-4     natural or artificial recharge of groundwater resources or aquifers
 1-5     is an equally important goal of the State of Texas; and
 1-6           WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature recognizes that the quality of
 1-7     groundwaters is differentiated from aquifer to aquifer; and
 1-8           WHEREAS, By Senate Bill No. 1477, Chapter 626, Acts of the
 1-9     73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993, as amended by House Bill
1-10     No. 3189, Chapter 612, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular
1-11     Session, 1995, the Texas Legislature created the Edwards Aquifer
1-12     Authority and vested in it primary jurisdiction to, among other
1-13     things, regulate withdrawals from and protect the water quality of
1-14     the Edwards Aquifer; and
1-15           WHEREAS, By various provisions in Senate Bill No. 1477, the
1-16     Texas Legislature vested in the Edwards Aquifer Authority authority
1-17     to oversee and implement projects for the artificial recharge of
1-18     the Edwards Aquifer to increase the supply of water to that aquifer
1-19     by naturally occurring channels or artificial means; and
1-20           WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature did not specifically state in
1-21     any of the provisions of Senate Bill No. 1477 that address
1-22     artificial recharge whether it intended the use of groundwaters,
1-23     surface waters, or both to increase the supply of waters to the
 2-1     Edwards Aquifer; and
 2-2           WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature finds that it is against the
 2-3     public policy of this state to deplete one groundwater resource for
 2-4     the benefit of another; and
 2-5           WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature also finds that blending
 2-6     groundwaters from more than one aquifer may degrade the quality of
 2-7     the receiving or the injected groundwaters; now, therefore, be it
 2-8           RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas
 2-9     finds that the legislature did not contemplate or intend that
2-10     groundwaters from an aquifer other than the Edwards Aquifer be
2-11     available for use for the artificial recharge of the Edwards
2-12     Aquifer as that practice could cause the depletion of one
2-13     groundwater resource for the benefit of another or degrade the
2-14     receiving or injected groundwaters; and, be it further
2-15           RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature intended and
2-16     contemplated that only surface waters would be available for use
2-17     for the artificial recharge of the Edwards Aquifer.