78R12496 JTS-F


By:  Van Arsdale, Baxter                                          H.B. No. 3030



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to notice of groundwater contamination that may affect a 
drinking water well.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter J, Chapter 26, Water Code, is amended 
by adding Section 26.408 to read as follows:
	Sec. 26.408.  NOTICE OF GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION.  (a)  If a 
state agency documents under Section 26.406(a) a case of 
groundwater contamination that may affect a drinking water well, 
the state agency shall notify the commission.
	(b)  Not later than the 30th day after the date the 
commission receives notice under Subsection (a) or obtains 
independent knowledge of groundwater contamination, the commission 
shall make every effort to give notice of the contamination by first 
class mail to each owner of a private drinking water well that may 
be affected by the contamination and to each applicable groundwater 
conservation district.
	(c)  The committee by rule shall prescribe the form and 
content of notice required under this section.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a case of groundwater contamination documented on 
or after that date.  A case of groundwater contamination documented 
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in 
effect on the date the contamination is documented, and the former 
law is continued in effect for that purpose.