| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the authority of the Texas Commission on Environmental |
|
|
Quality to establish uniform restrictions on the use of water |
|
|
during a drought. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 11.1272, Water Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows: |
|
|
(f) The commission shall by rule: |
|
|
(1) establish uniform stages of drought response, |
|
|
including measures to be implemented during each stage; and |
|
|
(2) designate the types of entities that must |
|
|
incorporate the drought response stages in their drought |
|
|
contingency plans. |
|
|
(g) A wholesale or retail public water supplier or |
|
|
irrigation district that the commission requires by rule to |
|
|
incorporate drought response stages in its drought contingency plan |
|
|
shall establish criteria for the initiation and termination of a |
|
|
drought response stage in the service area of the supplier or |
|
|
district. |
|
|
(h) A wholesale or retail public water supplier or |
|
|
irrigation district may not adopt drought response stages other |
|
|
than the stages established by commission rule. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Not later than September 1, 2014, the Texas |
|
|
Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt rules to implement |
|
|
Section 11.1272, Water Code, as amended by this Act. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |