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By:  Mowery                                                       H.B. No. 2716



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to exemptions from permitting requirements for dams and 
reservoirs on private property.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Amend Section 11.142, Water Code, to read as 
follows:            
	Sec. 11.142.  PERMIT EXEMPTIONS.  (a)  Without obtaining a 
permit, a person may construct on the person's own property a dam or 
reservoir with normal storage of not more than 200 acre-feet of 
water for domestic and livestock purposes.  A person who 
temporarily stores more than 200 acre-feet of water in a dam or 
reservoir described by this subsection is not required to obtain a 
permit for the dam or reservoir if the person can demonstrate that 
the person has not stored in the dam or reservoir more than 200 
acre-feet of water on average in any 12-month period.  A reservoir 
shall be considered to be for livestock and domestic purposes if 
water is consumed from the reservoir by livestock or for domestic 
purposes and water is not removed from the reservoir for any other 
purpose.  [This exemption does not apply to a commercial 
operation.]
	(b)  Without obtaining a permit, a person may construct on 
the person's property a dam or reservoir with normal storage of not 
more than 200 acre-feet of water for fish and wildlife purposes if 
the property on which the dam or reservoir will be constructed is 
qualified open-space land, as defined by Section 23.51, Tax Code.  
[This exemption does not apply to a commercial operation.]
	(c)  Without obtaining a permit, a person may construct and 
maintain on the person's own property a dam or reservoir if:
		(1)  the total amount of water stored does not exceed 
200 acre-feet; 
		(2)  the total amount of water stored does not exceed 
.25 acre-feet per acre of land owned contiguous to the reservoir, or 
per acre of contiguous land devoted to the reservoir by written 
instrument executed by the owner or owners of the contiguous land; 
and,
		(3)  no water is pumped out of the reservoir or diverted 
so that it is removed from the reservoir and not allowed to flow 
back into the natural drainage way of its origin.
	(d)  Without obtaining a permit, a person who is drilling and 
producing petroleum and conducting operations associated with 
drilling and producing petroleum may take for those purposes state 
water from the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent bays and arms of the Gulf 
of Mexico in an amount not to exceed one acre-foot during each 
24-hour period.
	(e) [(d)]  Without obtaining a permit, a person may 
construct or maintain a reservoir for the sole purpose of sediment 
control as part of a surface coal mining operation under the Texas 
Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act (Article 5920-11, Vernon's 
Texas Civil Statutes ).
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.