Understanding HB 1763, 79th Legislative Session, Concerning Joint Planning for Grounwater Management Areas

House Bill 1763 required Groundwater Conservation Districts ("GCDs") in Groundwater Management Areas("GMAs") to meet at least once every year to conduct joint planning, which includes defining desired future conditions (DFCs) of the groundwater resources within the GMA and reviewing groundwater management plans and accomplishments. The DFCs are due to Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) no later than September 1, 2010, and every five years thereafter. The TWDB isresponsible for calculating or verifying the managed available groundwater (MAG) based on hydrologic studies and submitted DFCs. The TWDB will deliver MAG values to GCDs and regional water planning groups for inclusion in their plans.

According to some less-than-casual observers, HB 1763 "offers some
profound changes in how groundwater availability is determined in Texas." and produced several major changes related to groundwater policy, including (1) regionalizing decisions on groundwater availability, (2) requiring regional water planning groups to use groundwater availability numbers developed from the groundwater management area process, and (3) requiring a permitting target for groundwater production. See "A Streetcar Named Desired Future Conditions" by Mace, Petrossian, Bradley and Mullican of the TWDB.


Groundwater District Management Planning and Implementation. To enable effective management of the state’s groundwater resources in areas where critical groundwater problems exist or may exist in the future, the Legislature has authorized the TCEQ, the TWDB, and the TPWD to study, identify and delineate priority groundwater management areas (PGMAs), and initiate the creation of GCDs within those areas, if necessary. “Critical groundwater problems” are defined as shortages of surface water or groundwater,land subsidence resulting from withdrawal of groundwater, or contamination of groundwater.

Each GCD must develop and adopt, in coordination with surface-water management entities, a groundwater management plan to address district goals. Once adopted, the plan must be approved for statutory completeness by the executive administrator of the TWDB. District implementation of the plan is subject to review by the SAO after one year. In addition, the TCEQ is required to take certain enforcement actions if a district does not adopt its plan within statutory deadlines, or if a district is determined by the SAO to be not operational in achieving the objectives of its approved plan.

PRIORITY GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AREAS. A Priority Groundwater Management Area (PGMA) is an area designated and delineated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that is experiencing, or is expected to experience within the immediate 25-year period following TCEQ's review, critical groundwater problems. Critical groundwater problems include shortages of surface water or groundwater, land subsidence resulting from groundwater withdrawal,and contamination of groundwater supplies. Through the establishment of a PGMA, areas in need of GCDs are identified, local initiative to create a GCD is encouraged, and TCEQ is authorized to establish a GCD if local initiatives to do so do not succeed.2Currently, the process for delineating a PGMA begins with staff of TCEQ and TWDB identifying areas with groundwater concerns. The executive director of TCEQ then completes a report about the area, including a recommendation for or against designating all or part of the area as a PGMA.

Should a PGMA designation be established, the executive director's report will also recommend the creation of a GCD. Once a report is complete, its findings are made public. If an area is recommended for designation as a PGMA, a State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) contested-case hearing is held. The hearing judge considers evidence and presents a proposal to TCEQ on the PGMA designation and GCD creation recommendation. Following the recommendation from SOAH, TCEQ determines whether the area will be designated as a PGMA and makes a recommendation about GCD creation through a PGMA designation order. The date of the PGMA designation order starts a two-year time frame for local action to establish a GCD through special law or petition. The TCEQ cannot take action in the first 120 days following issue of the order. However, the TCEQ must EITHER create a GCD within two years of the date of the order OR recommend that the counties included in the PGMA designation be added to an existing GCD. The process is intended to give local entities the opportunity to manage their groundwater resources locally, but provides a timeline for doing so to ensure that the resource is protected by the state if action is not taken at the local level.

Counties without existing GCDs do not have a vote in the GMA process to set the DFC for their aquifers. Although the groundwater is not regulated, the MAG number will be used by the regional water planning groups, and could affect the use of groundwater as a water management strategy. Similarly, pumping of groundwater in the unregulated areas within a GMA impacts the areas ability to accurately achieve the DFC. In response, TWDB has encouraged GMAs to reach out to areas without GCDs and encouraged local officials in counties without GCDs to get involved in the joint planning process.

Between 1987 and 2008, TCEQ and TWDB evaluated 18 PGMA study areas. To date, seven PGMAs have been designated. They are listed below: • Hill Country PGMA in all or part of eight counties (1990) • Reagan, Upton and Midland County PGMA in part of each county (1990) • Briscoe, Swisher and Hale County PGMA in all or part of each county (1990) • Dallam County PGMA in part of county (1990) • El Paso County PGMA in part of county (1998) • Northern Bexar County (added to Hill County PGMA in 2001), Central Texas Trinity Aquifer PGMA in all or part of Bosque, Coryell, Hill, McLennan, and Somervell counties (2008).

Joint Planning in Groundwater Management Areas. GCDs have the responsibility of joint planning within each groundwater management area, must meet at least annually to conduct joint planning with the other districts in the management area, and must review the management plans and accomplishments for the management area. In addition, the GCDs are charged with establishing desired future conditions for the relevant aquifers. As stated above, the DFCs are due to the TWDB no later than September 1, 2010, and every five years thereafter. Since September 1, 2007, there have been a total of 43 groundwater management area meetings and another nine related meetings such as public workshops or technical work group meetings.