78R14051 E
By: Flores H.B. No. 2250
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the powers and duties of the Rio Grande watermaster and
the delivery of water down the banks and bed of the Rio Grande.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 11, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 11.3271 to read as follows:
Sec. 11.3271. POWERS AND DUTIES OF RIO GRANDE WATERMASTER;
DELIVERY OF WATER DOWN BANKS AND BED OF RIO GRANDE. (a) This
section applies only to the watermaster with jurisdiction over the
Rio Grande and the water division for which that watermaster is
appointed.
(b) The watermaster shall divide the water of the streams or
other sources of supply of the division in accordance with the
adjudicated water rights.
(c) The watermaster shall regulate or cause to be regulated
the controlling works of reservoirs and diversion works in time of
water shortage, as is necessary because of the rights existing in
the streams of the division, or as is necessary to prevent the waste
of water or its diversion, taking, storage, or use in excess of the
quantities to which the holders of water rights are lawfully
entitled.
(d) The watermaster may regulate the distribution of water
from any system of works that serves users whose rights have been
separately determined.
(e) The watermaster's duties do not include activities that
relate to other programs of the commission, except as provided by
this section. The watermaster's duties shall include activities
that relate to situations of imminent threat to public health and
safety or the environment. The commission shall adopt rules:
(1) defining situations of imminent threat under this
section; and
(2) addressing the watermaster's duties in response to
terrorism.
(f) The watermaster may store in a reservoir for release at
a later time water in transit that is being conveyed down the banks
and bed of the Rio Grande under a permit issued by the commission
and in accordance with rules prescribed by the commission. In this
section, "water in transit" means privately owned water, not
including state water, that a person has pumped from an underground
reservoir and that is in transit between the point of discharge into
the river and the place of use or the point of diversion by a person
who has contracted with the owner of the water to purchase the
water. The contract must specify that the contract is for the
purchase and delivery of a specified amount of water less the
carriage losses incurred in transit, as described and measured
according to commission rules.
(g) The watermaster may store water under Subsection (f)
only if the storage does not hinder the ability of any other holders
of Rio Grande surface water rights to store the maximum authorized
capacity in a reservoir as specified by commission rules and
relevant permits, certified filings, or certificates of
adjudication.
(h) Before granting a permit to convey water down the banks
and bed of the Rio Grande, the commission shall adopt rules that
provide for the methods and procedures by which the watermaster
shall account for any discharge, delivery, conveyance, storage,
diversion, or associated loss of water conveyed down the banks and
bed of the Rio Grande. A permit to convey water down the banks and
bed of the Rio Grande may not allow the permit holder to share in any
beneficial state water inflows into the Rio Grande. The permit
holder is entitled to convey only the amount of water specified in
the permit, less the carriage losses incurred in transit, as
described and measured according to commission rules. A rule
adopted by the commission under this subsection must be consistent
with the Treaty Relating to the Utilization of the Waters of the
Colorado and Tijuana Rivers, and of the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) from
Fort Quitman, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico, concluded by the United
States and the United Mexican States on February 3, 1944, and with
any minute order adopted by the International Boundary and Water
Commission.
(i) In considering an application for a permit to convey
water down the banks and bed of the Rio Grande, the commission shall
consider the quality of the water to be conveyed. The commission
may not issue a permit if it determines that the water to be
conveyed would degrade the water quality of the Rio Grande.
(j) Notwithstanding any other law, the watermaster is the
official recorder for all instruments, including deeds, deeds of
trust, financing statements, security agreements, and liens, that
the commission authorizes or requires to be filed in connection
with water rights relating to water in the lower, middle, or upper
basin of the Rio Grande that are subject to a permit, certified
filing, or certificate of adjudication. An instrument shall be
filed with the watermaster under this subsection in the same manner
as required by other law for the same type of instrument. The
filing of an instrument under this subsection results in the same
legal and administrative status and consequences as a filing under
other law for the same type of instrument. An instrument filed
under this subsection shall be construed by a court, financial
institution, or other affected person in the same manner as an
instrument of the same type that is filed under other law. The
watermaster may charge and collect a fee for the recordation of
instruments under this subsection in the same amount as the fee
collected by the county clerk of Cameron County for the recordation
of similar instruments. The commission by rule shall prescribe the
procedures necessary for the proper implementation of this
subsection, including reasonable transition provisions, if
appropriate.
(k) This section does not apply to the Rio Grande above the
Fort Quitman Dam.
SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) As soon as practicable after September 1, 2003, the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt rules
necessary for the implementation of this Act and shall expedite any
application for a permit for the delivery of water down the banks
and bed of the Rio Grande under Section 11.042, Water Code.