79R3200 E

By:  Gallego                                                      H.B. No. 3209



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the rights of landowners and their lessees and assigns 
in groundwater.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 36.002, Water Code, is amended to read as 
follows:       
	Sec. 36.002.  OWNERSHIP OF GROUNDWATER.  (a) The ownership 
and rights of the owners of the land and their lessees and assigns 
in groundwater are hereby recognized, and nothing in this code 
shall be construed as depriving or divesting the owners or their 
lessees and assigns of the ownership or rights, except as those 
rights may be limited or altered by rules promulgated by a district, 
which rules must comply with Subsections (b) and (c).
	(b)  Each owner of land above a particular aquifer shall have 
the right to withdraw an equal amount of water per acre of land 
owned above that aquifer.
	(c)  A landowner may exceed the amount described in 
Subsection (b) provided no other owner of land above the same 
aquifer is deprived of the amount described in Subsection (b) as a 
result of such excess withdrawal.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.