By:  Staples                                                      S.B. No. 1709


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the regulation of a poultry operation that does not use 
a liquid waste handling system.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 26.0286, Water Code, is amended to read 
as follows:      
	Sec. 26.0286.  PROCEDURES APPLICABLE TO PERMITS FOR CERTAIN 
CONCENTRATED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS.  (a)  In this section:
		(1)  "Sole-source surface drinking water supply" means 
a body of surface water that is designated as a sole-source surface 
drinking water supply in rules adopted by the commission.
		(2)  "Protection zone" means an area so designated by 
commission rule under Subsection (c).
		(3)  "Liquid waste handling system" means a system in 
which fresh water or wastewater is used for transporting and land 
applying waste.
	(b)  The commission shall process an application for 
authorization to construct or operate a concentrated animal feeding 
operation as a specific permit under Section 26.028 subject to the 
procedures provided by Subchapter M, Chapter 5, if, on the date the 
commission determines that the application is administratively 
complete, any part of a pen, lot, pond, or other type of control or 
retention facility or structure of the concentrated animal feeding 
operation is located or proposed to be located within the 
protection zone of a sole-source surface drinking water supply.  
For the purposes of this subsection, a land application area is not 
considered a control or retention facility.
	(c)  For the purposes of this section only, when adopting 
rules under Section 26.023 to set water quality standards for water 
in the state, the commission by rule shall designate a surface water 
body as a sole-source surface drinking water supply if that surface 
water body is identified as a public water supply in rules adopted 
by the commission under Section 26.023 and is the sole source of 
supply of a public water supply system, exclusive of emergency 
water connections.  At the same time, the commission shall 
designate as a protection zone any area within the watershed of a 
sole-source surface drinking water supply that is:
		(1)  within two miles of the normal pool elevation of a 
body of surface water that is a sole-source surface drinking water 
supply;
		(2)  within two miles of that part of a perennial stream 
that is:           
			(A)  a tributary of a sole-source surface drinking 
water supply; and       
			(B)  within three linear miles upstream of the 
normal pool elevation of a sole-source surface drinking water 
supply; or
		(3)  within two miles of that part of a stream that is a 
sole-source surface drinking water supply, extending three linear 
miles upstream from the water supply intake.
	(d)  This section does not apply to a poultry operation that 
does not use a liquid waste handling system.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.