Water Law

Groundwater Conservation District permits
The Texas legislature has recently given Groundwater Conservations Districts (GCDs) significant power over a landowner’s right to drill and produce groundwater. The complex new laws and rules vary from county to county and are still changing. In order to secure their right to produce water, landowners must be able to negotiate the GCD permitting process.

Groundwater leases and sales
With Texas’ growing population and limited water resources, groundwater is becoming more and more valuable. Landowners have an opportunity to capitalize on this new demand through leasing or selling groundwater, but these transactions are complex legal matters that often mirror oil and gas transactions.

Groundwater severances
In the same way that a landowner can separate the mineral estate from the surface estate, a landowner may sever the groundwater from the surface ownership, either reserving a right in the groundwater when selling the land or purchasing the groundwater separately from the surface.

Clean Water Act issues
Land use ranging from agriculture to residential development can be affected by the Clean Water Act. Because the law is currently unclear on this matter and the Army Corps of Engineers has changed its regulation of this matter, complete understanding of this issue is important for a variety of land uses.