This document discusses a proposal for regional management of groundwater in Texas through consolidation of existing groundwater conservation districts. It argues that the current proliferation of politically-based districts has moved away from the original legislative intent of managing groundwater at the aquifer-level. The document outlines a process for voluntary consolidation of districts defined by major aquifers and concludes that consolidation would improve management but action is needed soon before state intervention is required.

1. 2015 Texas Groundwater Summit
Steve Kosub
Senior Water Resources Counsel
San Antonio Water System
A Proposal for Regional
Management of Groundwater
August 27, 2015

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Regional Management of Groundwater
• Local management of groundwater has not
evolved as planned by Legislature in 1949
• Proliferation of local districts based on politics
with secondary regard for hydrology
• Aquifer-based districts would enhance
groundwater management and facilitate
conjunctive management with surface water
Introduction

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Introduction

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Introduction

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Legislature in 1949 provided for the creation
and organization of underground water
conservation districts to provide for the
conservation, preservation, protection and
recharging and the prevention of waste of
underground water (Acts, 51st Leg. Chapter
306, H. B. No. 162, 1949)

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Prescribed powers, functions, limitations, and
standards to govern the operation of such
districts
• Recognized individual ownership of
groundwater
• Authorized State Board of Water Engineers to
designate underground water reservoirs and
subdivisions thereto

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Recognized the importance of hydrology for
regulatory jurisdiction
– “No petition for the creation of a District…shall be
considered by a Commissioners Court or the
Board, as the case may be, unless the area to be
included therein is coterminous with an
underground reservoir or subdivision thereof
which theretofore has been defined and
designated by the Board…

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Recognized the importance of hydrology for
regulatory jurisdiction
– (cont.) as an underground water reservoir or
subdivision thereof. Such district, in conforming to
a defined reservoir or subdivision, may include all
or parts of a county or counties, municipal
corporations or other political subdivisions,
including but not limited to Water Control and
Improvement Districts.”

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Provided that the “administrative and
procedural provisions” of laws governing
WCIDs would apply to the newly authorized
groundwater districts
• WCID law provided that a district created in
more than one county must be confirmed by a
vote of the qualified resident property tax
paying voters

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Requirement that district be coterminous with
an underground reservoir or subdivision
thereof remained in law for 36 years
• Major change in 1985 with HB No. 2, a 122
page omnibus water bill
– Struck existing authorization for Texas Water
Commission to designate underground water
reservoirs and subdivisions of reservoirs

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Major change (cont.)
– Replaced with authorization for designation of
underground water management areas
– In making designation, commission could consider
non-hydrological factors including boundaries of
political subdivisions
– Struck prohibition on creation of a district unless
proposed boundaries were coterminous with
boundaries of underground reservoir

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Further change in 1989
– Eliminated administration of groundwater districts
by reference to law governing WCIDs
– Further encouraged creation of districts without
hydrological foundation by authorizing district
boundaries coterminous with or inside the
boundaries of a management area designated by
commission
• Reflected today in TWC §36.012(c)

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Background
• Legislative preference in 1949 for local
management of groundwater was qualified
• Local voters could determine if groundwater
would be managed at all
• If so, legislature required that management be
based on aquifers
• Surely not managing groundwater at all is no
longer an option for the State of Texas

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Issue
• Can we agree that
– groundwater should be managed; and
– it is better to manage groundwater on the basis of
hydrology than politics?
• If so, how do we get from where we are to
where we want to be?
• Action by districts or action by state?

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• TWC Chapter 36, subchapter K, provides for
voluntary consolidation of groundwater
districts
• Two or more districts may consolidate into
one district
• Adjacent districts may consolidate portions of
either district if one district relinquishes land
within that district to the other

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Process
– To initiate a consolidation, the board of a district
shall adopt a resolution proposing a consolidation
and deliver a copy of the resolution to the board
of each district with which consolidation is
proposed
– A consolidation occurs if the board of each
involved district adopts a resolution containing
the terms and conditions of the consolidation

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Process (cont.)
– Terms and conditions shall include
• Adoption of a name
• Number and apportionment of directors
• Effective date of consolidation
• An agreement on finances
• Transfer of all permits to the consolidated district
• An agreement on governing the districts during the
transition period, including selection of officers

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Process (cont.)
– Terms and conditions may include
• Assumption by each district of the other district’s
bonds, notes, voted but unissued bonds, or other
obligations
• An agreement to levy taxes to pay for bonds
• Any other terms of conditions agreed upon by the
board of each district

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Process (cont.)
– Each board shall publish notice and hold a public
hearing within that district on the terms and
conditions for consolidation of the districts
– After the hearing, the board may, by resolution,
approve the terms and conditions for
consolidation and enter an order consolidating the
districts

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Process (cont.)
– An election to ratify the consolidation is required
in each district that initiates consolidation
– An election is not required in a district that does
not initiate consolidation
– The board of each district that is required to
conduct an election shall order an election in the
district only after the board of each district to be
consolidated has agreed on the terms and
conditions of the consolidation

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Process (cont.)
– A district may be consolidated only if a majority of
the electors in each district required to have an
election vote in favor of the consolidation
– If more than two districts are consolidating, failure
of any one district to ratify the consolidation shall
not prevent the consolidation of the other
districts
– After consolidation, districts become one district
and are governed as one district

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Advantages of consolidation
– Aquifer-based management of groundwater
– Better funded districts
– Enhanced role for professional staff
– Efficiencies in district operations
– Better and more efficient interaction with TWDB,
TCEQ, river authorities and other districts
– Opportunity for elimination of unregulated areas

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Consolidation could create sixteen districts
based on groundwater management areas
– Upper Ogallala GCD
– Lower Ogallala GCD
– Pecos Valley GCD
– West Texas Bolsons GCD
– Hueco-Mesilla Bolson GCD
– Seymour GCD

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Sixteen districts (cont.)
– Edwards Trinity Plateau GCD
– Upper Trinity GCD
– Lower Trinity GCD
– Lower Trinity GCD
– Upper Carrizo Wilcox GCD
– Middle Carrizo Wilcox GCD
– Lower Carrizo Wilcox GCD

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Voluntary Consolidation of Districts
• Sixteen districts (cont.)
– Upper Gulf Coast GCD
– Middle Gulf Coast GCD
– Lower Gulf Coast GCD
• All unregulated areas added to most
appropriate district by state in conforming
legislation

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Regional Management of Groundwater
Voluntary Consolidation of Districts

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Regional Management of Groundwater
State Consolidation of Districts
• Local groundwater conservation districts are
creatures of statute and could be consolidated
by legislative action
• Transition could occur over time in steps
beginning with newest districts with least
permitting history
• Legislative merger of SAWS and Bexar
Metropolitan Water District offers model

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Conclusion
• Legislature’s concept of local aquifer-based
groundwater management was lost in 1985
• Return to aquifer-based management would
benefit both local and state interests
• Opportunity exists for districts to lead effort to
consolidate and improve local management
• Delay will make voluntary consolidation more
difficult and increase pressure for state action