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Bridle Ridge 113 Appaloosa, 1999, 3/2, 1809 sq. ft., $147, 000. Relocating. Must sell. Call 361-212-0393.
According to TxDOT, 1,000 new residents move into Texas daily causing stresses in water demand for urban areas. The outlook for meeting their future water needs is gloomy unless they guarantee outside water sources. Residents of Lavaca County must recognize this makes urban problems our problems. If we don’t stake a claim to our groundwater now, it will be freely available to water-marketing profiteers.
Wasteful and unregulated use of groundwater will no longer be accepted. Groundwater that is not wisely managed may be considered “wasteful use.” Lavaca County needs a systematic procedure for collecting hydrogeological information to develop sound groundwater management on a sustainable basis. Information is needed on groundwater usage, aquifer storage capacity and flow characteristics of the aquifer. We must determine our water needs for the future and stake our claim on that water before someone at the state level is sent in to do it for us. Without a GCD, how can this be accomplished? It’s time Lavaca County citizens become active and informed.
First, we must understand Texas’ rule of capture doctrine. Many people believe the rule of capture guarantees personal property rights to groundwater, that it is a score for liberty and freedom. In reality, the rule of capture is another score for social and economic growth at the expense of our rights to seek legal compensation for damages to our property. The “fundamental purposes … in adopting the rule of capture were to provide the certainty necessary to support the investment of capital and economic development in Texas” (Caroom, The Rule of Capture).
In 1904, the Texas Supreme Court adopted the rule of capture deciding that a property owner was not bound to “reasonable use” of groundwater but could take all the groundwater “that is there found to his own purposes at his free will and pleasure.” The Court based its findings on two rationales. One was that groundwater is “so secret, occult, and concealed that an attempt to administer any set of legal rules in respect to them would be involved in hopeless uncertainty.” With the knowledge of modern hydrogeological sciences, this argument could be easily overturned today.
The second rationale the Court used was that recognizing a common right to water beneath the surface would “interfere, to the material detriment of the commonwealth … and the general progress of improvement in works of embellishment and utility.” In other words, allowing property owners legal recourses against a neighbor who pumps your well dry is not beneficial in the interests of business and economic growth. With this understanding, it becomes clear: The only ones standing to gain from the rule of capture are large cities, water marketing businesses, and landowners wishing to profit from unregulated sale of groundwater. More than 90 percent of the groundwater in Texas lies within GCDs, where the rule of capture is still in place but is restrained. Lavaca County remains one of the few gateways to unrestrained profit for water-marketers.
Opposers of the LCGCD, believe we should attempt legislative change of the rule of capture. However, opinion statewide is that there is no need for such change. When applied in a modified, restrained manner, such as that created through a GCD, the essence of the rule is maintained while creating equality in water rights — something that doesn’t exist in Texas otherwise. There are currently about 95 GCDs in Texas and, as Caroom states “the vast majority of Texas’ groundwater is subject to regulation by groundwater conservation districts (GCDs) in which the rule of capture does not operate on an unrestrained basis.” Texas’ courts, legislators, water lawyers, and GCD managers and directors are stressing the need to maintain the status quo, allowing locally controlled groundwater management to mature through the GCD model. Having no GCD, Lavaca County is left with little, if any, authority to influence the legislature in this area. As State Sen. Hegar’s office recently informed us, “Typically, the Legislature will look to areas that are participating in these activities (MAG, DFC, etc.) or working under current Chapter 36 rules to develop changes to the current system.” With no reason to expect the rule of capture to be changed, Lavaca County must confirm a groundwater district to achieve fairness and equality of groundwater rights — the sooner the better.
Mary Regenbrecht is a resident of Hallettsville...