Rains wont wash away water crisis in Texas

Rains wont wash away water crisis in Texas

Mark Twain is often given credit for the old saying, "Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting." Actually, it's not clear he ever said that, but it's true nonetheless. The Texas Legislature is gearing up to tackle the water crisis in Texas and it will be a fight. It could even drive some to the comfort of that whiskey bottle.

I write this on a morning of heavy rain in Waco. It's been a pretty wet spring. I expect the corn crop will do well this year. I hope so. After teasing farmers with early rains for the past two years, the state plunged into epic drought. Promising crops withered under the onslaught of triple digit temperatures and no rain. The drought of 2009 was probably the worst in the history of the state. Agriculture reeled in its devastating wake. With no feed, cattle flooded to market in record numbers, reducing the state's total herd. Grain crops did not come up in the southern part of Texas and were severely damaged elsewhere.

That drought is thankfully broken, and as the rain runs down my office windows it's hard to visualize that we have a water crisis in Texasbut we do. It is a problem bolted together by the certainty of more droughts in the years ahead and the growth that continues unabated in the Lone Star State.

This is the first of several blogs we'll write prior to the legislative session on the subject of the Texas water crisis.

Lawmakers will deal with several contentious issues. To start with, state law is clear that groundwater is the vested, real property of private landowners; yet some continue to challenge the law. Property owners will have to defend and reaffirm their ownership of this property. The battle will be waged on the legal, regulatory and legislative fronts.

Private ownership of groundwater encourages good stewardship and promotes accountability. Private landowners and their productive open land are keys to an effectively functioning water cycle. Their active and informed stewardship of land and water resources benefits all Texans.

When we settle the issue of who owns the groundwater, we'll have more certainty and balance in water planning. We can move away from a situation of "those with the biggest straws win." We can plan for growth and achieve balance between the water producing rural areas and urban water consuming areas without jeopardizing potential growth in any part of the state.

Groundwater conservation districts have functioned well for many years, ensuring that decisions made about water supply and usage were local, made by the people who had to live with those same decisions. Still, the question of ownership must be settled so that groundwater districts are consistent in their interpretation of the law all over the state.

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