Corpusfishing.com

[Brine]

A couple of recent articles highlighting issues that will impact freshwater inflows to Texas Bays

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/0 ... -a-future/

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/0 ... -on-water/

There is a chorus of voices speaking up to claim every drop of Texas water.
Lake property owners, water skiers, rice farmers, municipalities, industries, energy producers, land developers ---
Who is going to speak up for some fresh water for Texas bays?
When people in San Antonio are told they can only brush their teeth on even numbered days -- will any of them care whether a Redfish lives or dies?

Correct links:


http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/03/01/taking-a-deeper-look-at-the-texas-supreme-courts-ruling-on-water/

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/03/01/in-their-own-words-what-no-water-would-mean-for-rice-farmers/

[The Trash Heap]

Thanks for the links. I've forwarded the one analyzing the groundwater decision to an email group interested in water project developments and related concerns. Re San Antonio and inflows, look at http://thearansasproject.org/
_________________
The Trash Heap Has Spoken!
NNYYAAAHH!!!

[Brine]

The linked pages were altered since the initial post -- here are the articles I was referring to.
--- Or look at the "Featured Posts" sidebar to the right for the articles on rice farmers and Tx. supreme court ruling.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/03/01/taking-a-deeper-look-at-the-texas-supreme-courts-ruling-on-water/

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/03/01/in-their-own-words-what-no-water-would-mean-for-rice-farmers/

[Central Scrutinizer]

TrashHeap will catch the meaning behind this, but for those who are unfamiliar with Texas water law, the recent ruling by the courts is A GAME CHANGER, the likes of which we have not seen in our lives.

Interested to see how it all shakes out, but this is a big ruling.

CS

[The Trash Heap]

Texas already had a uniquely complicated variant of Western water law applying to its surface waters and seems about to complicate matters further regarding groundwater rights.

The pre-existing groundwater rules had evolved first by assuming the landowner could take all that could be pumped from below, regardless of how that might affect surrounding landowners' access to the same aquifer. Later, water districts were formed with the power to reduce the amounts pumped by each landowner to prevent damages to the neighbors and to the aquifer itself. The districts, because their rules were made to promote a public good, assumed no responsibility for compensating the landowners for any reductions imposed by those rules.

For a long time, the courts claimed the location and movements of groundwater were too mysterious to show unshared ownership, and thus would not allow landowners to sue for compensation for groundwater water which they weren't permitted to pump. The latest Texas SC decision suggests those mysteries are no longer any harder to solve than the ones involving rights to minerals such as coal, gas and oil, and expects the lower courts to begin deciding whether the public water districts and the private landowners can accurately define not only where all the groundwater is, but also how much there is at any given time, where it came from and where it is going. In short, it looks like groundwater is about to be treated like surface water more than oil or gas because the latter aren't linked to surface processes less than hundreds of millions of years old. If the landowner can prove the groundwater the SC decided he now owns is from a source isolated from those beneath and therefore owned by his neighbors, and that his pumping from that source would not affect any surface water rights, say those dependent in part on spring flow, he may expect compensation from any district forcing him to reduce pumping. However, if there is a hydrologic connection from his source to his neighbors' wells and/or to surface water rights of others, he may have to abide by the district's controls voluntarily or compensate the others.

It'll take years to determine aquifer-by-aquifer, property-by-property, district-by-district as much information as will be needed to settle groundwater ownership rights, much less to seek compensation for restricting even the undisputed, single-owner, isolated aquifers. It's a bonanza for lawyers until new state legislation can sort things out again.
_________________
The Trash Heap Has Spoken!
NNYYAAAHH!!!

[Brine]

For those who want to dig into this topic some more, here is a good overview of the fresh water inflow allocation recommendation process as called for by
Senate Bill 3:

http://www.texaswatermatters.org/flows.htm

Links on that page will lead you to info on the Nueces basin recommendation.

[The Trash Heap]

http://www.caller.com/news/2012/mar/12/groundwater-rulings-dire-consequences/

Note that in the C-T's on-line comments the landowners haven't figured out they'll be sued for pumping each other's water long before they can get a case against the groundwater districts for taking. Sooner or later, the landowners will be wanting the protections the districts were formed to provide.
_________________
The Trash Heap Has Spoken!
NNYYAAAHH!!!

[Brine]

Thanks for the link to that CC-CT article Trash Heap.

[Brine]

A related article from the Houston Chronicle :

http://www.chron.com/sports/outdoors/article/Tompkins-Uncertainty-looms-large-for-waterfowl-3397255.php

[Brine]

Texas Lawmakers Mull Water Options for State / Texas Tribune

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/water-supply/texas-lawmakers-mull-water-options-texas/

"Texas needs to plan better for droughts, including exploring the expensive process of desalination, experts testified Thursday in Austin before a receptive House Natural Resources Committee." -----

"Ken Kramer, the head of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said that as a first priority, Texans need to "maximize effective use of existing resources," including some tougher watering restrictions. The city of Corpus Christi, he said, does not have mandatory watering restrictions even when lakes drop below 50 percent full."

[Brine]

Fresh water inflow might not be so "fresh" after all ---

" ----- of pollutants discharged into Texas waterways by all industries, poultry processors were among the top sources for sheer volume."

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/04/03/big-chicken-in-texas-and-worries-about-poultry-pollution/