1-1 By: Armbrister S.C.R. No. 63 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed April 12, 1999; April 20, 1999, read 1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; 1-4 April 30, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5, 1-5 Nays 0; April 30, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-7 WHEREAS, The protection and maintenance of groundwater 1-8 quality is an important goal of the State of Texas; and 1-9 WHEREAS, The preservation, conservation, protection, and 1-10 natural or artificial recharge of groundwater resources or aquifers 1-11 is an equally important goal of the State of Texas; and 1-12 WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature recognizes that the quality of 1-13 groundwaters is differentiated from aquifer to aquifer; and 1-14 WHEREAS, By Senate Bill No. 1477, Chapter 626, Acts of the 1-15 73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993, as amended by House Bill 1-16 No. 3189, Chapter 612, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular 1-17 Session, 1995, the Texas Legislature created the Edwards Aquifer 1-18 Authority and vested in it primary jurisdiction to, among other 1-19 things, regulate withdrawals from and protect the water quality of 1-20 the Edwards Aquifer; and 1-21 WHEREAS, By various provisions in Senate Bill No. 1477, the 1-22 Texas Legislature vested in the Edwards Aquifer Authority authority 1-23 to oversee and implement projects for the artificial recharge of 1-24 the Edwards Aquifer to increase the supply of water to that aquifer 1-25 by naturally occurring channels or artificial means; and 1-26 WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature did not specifically state in 1-27 any of the provisions of Senate Bill No. 1477 that address 1-28 artificial recharge whether it intended the use of groundwaters, 1-29 surface waters, or both to increase the supply of waters to the 1-30 Edwards Aquifer; and 1-31 WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature finds that it is against the 1-32 public policy of this state to deplete one groundwater resource for 1-33 the benefit of another; and 1-34 WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature also finds that blending 1-35 groundwaters from more than one aquifer may degrade the quality of 1-36 the receiving or the injected groundwaters; now, therefore, be it 1-37 RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas 1-38 finds that the legislature did not contemplate or intend that 1-39 groundwaters from an aquifer other than the Edwards Aquifer be 1-40 available for use for the artificial recharge of the Edwards 1-41 Aquifer as that practice could cause the depletion of one 1-42 groundwater resource for the benefit of another or degrade the 1-43 receiving or injected groundwaters; and, be it further 1-44 RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature intended and 1-45 contemplated that only surface waters would be available for use 1-46 for the artificial recharge of the Edwards Aquifer. 1-47 * * * * *