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SW Saskatchewan | Read over the weekend of the Texas Supreme Court Ruling that limited the role of 'Water Commissions' to regulate water use . Seems ruling meant that a landowner had ownership of any water underlying his land.
I don't know exactly what this means- have any landowners sold off their "water" the way that "oil rights" can be sold off?
Are landowners now able to pump as much water as they want from an underlying aquifer?
They mentioned the right to sue for trespass- does that mean if your neighbour pumps but you do not, can you sue for the value of the water drawn from under your property?
I am guessing that the Texas Supreme Court Ruling is the final word on this issue if state laws parallel Canadian- ie states rather than fed own the natural resources until surrendered to a third party (landowner), also management of these resources and ownership rules.
Lots of questions-please explain.
Thanks,
PS-saw some very nice winter wheat today between New Braunfels and Seguin. Had just been sprayed . |
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West Texas | IMO, that ruling just opened yet another can of worms. It remains to be seen how this will all play out, but either way, the water is going to disappear. "Conservation? What's that?" |
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Lubbock, Texas | in Texas we have the "right of free capture".....if you can sink a well and pump the water it is yours....with some exceptions
1. water can not be sold outside of the borders of Texas
2. yes ground water can and is sold it is sold to municipalities and it can be sold to others privately......but not over the borders of the state
3. if you live in an area that has voted in a ground water district then the ground water district can have regulations on ground water pumping
what the recent supreme court ruling did was make it where a water authority (the LCRA Lower Colorado River Authority (which is much more than just a ground water district)) can compensate some land owners for the decline in their property values based on the LCRA regulating the use of the ground water they pump
so there is the potential that all ground wter districts may now be sued by people that are not happy with being in a ground water district......most people in areas that have ground water districts will have voted for them, but that does not mean that ALL landowners in that area voted to be in it...the state can also force the formation of a district on an area, but I don't believe they can force that district to actually do any regulations....and of course like anything government once a district is in place that does not mean all that may have voted for the formation of it will be happy with what it ends up doing
4. I believe the trespass is when someone slant drills across property lines....and there can also be suits of someone is pumping with the intent to "damage" others or they are "negligent"
up until the late 80s and early 90s it was wide open.....it all came to a head when a guy south of San Antonio named Ron Pucek (that someone I did business with in the past knew and said liked to stir things up) drilled a well that was said to be the worlds largest water well and it free flowed (artesian) enough water to equal 25% of what the city of San Antonio used (it flowed 40,000 GPM from a 30" well)
he spent a total of a million dollars to drill the well and to set up raceways for a fish farm and because of the water he had access to the fish farm ran the water through the raceways one time and then discharged it into the Medina River
he lasted one season before he was shut down for not having discharge permits...he fought for 5 years and then opened another year using much less water and was holding the discharge water on site and was sued again because it was claimed his retention pond was faulty.....after another 5 years rules were in place based on historic use and he claimed historic use of just over 46,000 and change in acre feet used per year
over the next three years he sold out to the San Antonio water district with them having rights to 22,500 acre feet per year for a total of about 30 million dollars for all properties involved and he walked away
it is said his fish could have been worth up to 25 million per year, but many others think he and his financial backers knew what they were doing and gambled that San Antonio would have to get involved and buy them out.....I think it was a bit of both......he would have fish farmed if he could have, but when it all blew up and when it drug out so long in court it was easier to take the money and walk away
from there the idea of ground water districts started up
some areas specifically just south and east of Amarillo implemented ground water districts on purpose to sell water...T Boone Pickens bought up a lot of property and then bought a bunch more water rights with the idea of selling it down into dallas.....some people in the area were concerned about him pumping him dry and he wanted the district so he could have a firm legal claim to X acre feet per year.....I believe he put something like 3 to 5 people living on the properties (very sparely populated area) that were all going to vote yes for the district and formed it and then some neighbors formed one of their own as well......that was probably 10 years or so ago maybe a few more and just recently much of that water was sold to the water provider for Lubbock, Amarillo, and several other cities in the area that also own an existing pipeline and a large lake (running dry) north of Amarillo...that same provider and some of the individual cities have other ground water agreements with other owners as well
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perryton, tx | Here we are part of the North Plains Groundwater District. We are allowed to pump a certain amount each year by the district regulations. Currently i believe it's at 21 inches but it's soon to be dropped to 18. A lot of wells have water meters and production has to be reported to the district. If a guy goes over the allotment then there is a fine to be paid. I'm not currently aware if anyone has tried to challenge our district rules but i know that T. Boone Pickens went to court several times with the district just to our south (see rodrod's post above) over pumping restrictions. I think that's the reason he sold all the rights he had purchased rather than try to develop his huge project to sell water down state. |
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Texas/New Mexico Stateline | Looks like lots of lawyers are going to get stinking rich........and we will still run out of water...... |
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SW KS | HOLY SMOKES! 40,000 GPM artesian? This was located nearby San Antonio? If only I had a couple of those... That'd only be enough for what? 80 circles of corn? |
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Lubbock, Texas | it was in southern Bexar County so just south of SA
http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/pucek.html
the above link is from the Edwards Aquifer Authority one of the water authorities in the area with mentions of SAWS which is the water provider for San Antonio
and yea that is HUGE water...HUGE.....I like the part about rocks the size of basketballs shooting 20 feet into the air....I would have liked to see that haha
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| Proably means the folks like us who use the water will have to pay people
Who never would of used water for the right to use there water. Rumor is that all acres on the
Edwards aquifer will be aloted 4" of water per acre. |
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SW Saskatchewan | Especially information on the Edwards Acquifer. Been watching the levels on late night news ever since we came down here in December.
lots of things very interesting - cows are cows and cowboys are cowboys in Texas as in Saskatchewan. A neighbour's boy is down at WC and will be competing in College rodeo. Wish him the best of luck. |
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For Texas irrigators
