Surface Water Regulation in Texas: Problems and Solutions

According to the 2017 Texas State Water Plan, Texas will experience an 8.9 million acre foot water shortage by 2070. The question is what role surface and groundwater will play in alleviating this shortfall. The 2016 Capstone project to Comptroller Hegar assessed the potential for ground water to meet these predicted water needs (the Brady et al. report). This report is a follow on report focused on surface water. In several ways, surface water poses a more complex task because one cannot point to a single regulatory institution with simple fixes. Indeed, in many respects, surface water institutions in Texas are relatively sophisticated. From the extensive WAM modeling used by the Texas Commission on Environment Quality (TCEQ) to the comprehensive 50-year water plans produced by the Texas Water Development Board (TWBD), Texas is significantly ahead of other states in their water planning and management. However, our analysis has identified three major problem areas, the solutions to which are the focus of this report

Surface Water Regulation in Texas: Problems and Solutions

According to the 2017 Texas State Water Plan, Texas will experience an 8.9 million acre foot water shortage by 2070. The question is what role surface and groundwater will play in alleviating this shortfall. The 2016 Capstone project to Comptroller Hegar assessed the potential for ground water to meet these predicted water needs (the Brady et al. report). This report is a follow on report focused on surface water. In several ways, surface water poses a more complex task because one cannot point to a single regulatory institution with simple fixes. Indeed, in many respects, surface water institutions in Texas are relatively sophisticated. From the extensive WAM modeling used by the Texas Commission on Environment Quality (TCEQ) to the comprehensive 50-year water plans produced by the Texas Water Development Board (TWBD), Texas is significantly ahead of other states in their water planning and management. However, our analysis has identified three major problem areas, the solutions to which are the focus of this report

Interjecting Economics into the Surface Water Dialogue

This paper applies the conceptual lens of economic efficiency as a criterion by which to evaluate surface water in Texas. We identify two major problems. First, Texas has a water allocation problem limiting the ability to substitute groundwater for surface water to move water between river basins and to facilitate transfers within a river basin. Second, surface water is both underpriced and unresponsive to drought conditions preventing it from being used at its highest and best use. We propose a variety of partial solutions, which include facilitating greater reliance on water markets as well as a water tax that would vary across regions and over time to encourage conservation. Citation: Vaca M, Richards S, Davis A, Jackson K, Timur N, Manzoor F, Azam S, Feltman R, Griffin J. 2019. Interjecting economics into the surface water dialogue. Texas Water Journal. 10(1):112-127. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v10i1.7062