By:  Armbrister                                        S.R. No. 977
         99S1585/1                           
                                  SENATE 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
1-24     Edwards Aquifer; and
 2-1           WHEREAS, The Texas Senate finds that it is against the public
 2-2     policy of this state to deplete one groundwater resource for the
 2-3     benefit of another; and
 2-4           WHEREAS, The Texas Senate also finds that blending
 2-5     groundwaters from more than one aquifer may degrade the quality of
 2-6     the receiving or the injected groundwaters; now, therefore, be it
 2-7           RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 76th
 2-8     Legislature, finds that the legislature did not contemplate or
 2-9     intend that groundwaters from an aquifer other than the Edwards
2-10     Aquifer be available for use for the artificial recharge of the
2-11     Edwards Aquifer as that practice could cause the depletion of one
2-12     groundwater resource for the benefit of another or degrade the
2-13     receiving or injected groundwaters; and, be it further
2-14           RESOLVED, That the Texas Senate finds that the legislature
2-15     intended and contemplated that only surface waters would be
2-16     available for use for the artificial recharge of the Edwards
2-17     Aquifer.