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                                  * * * * *