Environmental Flows 

and the SB 3 Process

Ron Ellis, Manager 

Water Rights Permitting & 

Availability Section

Water Availability Division

Texas Commission on 

Environmental Quality
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

In 2007, the 80th Legislature passed: 

House Bill 3 relating to the management of the water 

resources of the state, including the protection of instream 

flows and freshwater inflows; and, 

Senate Bill 3 relating to the development, management, 

and preservation of the water resources of the state. 
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

SB 3 established the Environmental Flows Advisory 

Group.

This group appointed the Statewide Science Advisory 

Committee and the Basin and Bay Area Stakeholder 

Committees.

Each Basin and Bay Area Stakeholder Committee 

appointed the Basin and Bay Expert Science Team for 

their basin and bay system.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

The Basin and Bay Expert Science Teams develop

environmental flow regime analyses and a recommended 

environmental flow regime. These recommendations only 

consider reasonably available science and do not take into 

account the need for water for other uses.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

The Basin and Bay Stakeholder Committees review the 

Science Team’s recommendations and consider them in 

conjunction with other factors, including the present and 

future needs for water for other uses. The Stakeholders 

recommend environmental flow standards for their basin 

and strategies to meet those standards.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

The Basin and Bay Stakeholder Committees report their 

recommendations to the TCEQ. 

The Stakeholders and the Science Team are to reach their 

recommendations on a consensus basis to the maximum 

extent possible. 
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

After submitting their recommendations to the TCEQ, 

each Stakeholder Committee, with the assistance of their 

Science Team, must prepare a work plan. The work plan 

establishes a periodic review of the science and 

recommendations, may include monitoring or other 

studies, and establishes a schedule for continuing the 

validation and refinement of the standards.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

The TCEQ will take the recommendations from the 

Stakeholder Committees, as well as input from the 

Environmental Flows Advisory Group and the Science 

Advisory Committee, and will consider the information 

along with other information listed in Texas Water Code, 

Section 11.147(b)(1) – (10).

By rule, the TCEQ will adopt environmental flow 

standards for each basin and bay system.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

To implement the rulemaking requirement of SB 3, the 

TCEQ will conduct three separate rulemakings. 

The first rulemaking covered:

• the river basin and bay system consisting of the Trinity 

and San Jacinto Rivers and Galveston Bay, and

• the river basin and bay system consisting of the Sabine 

and Neches Rivers and Sabine Lake Bay.

This rule was adopted in April 2011.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

The second rulemaking will cover:

• the river basin and bay system consisting of the 

Colorado and Lavaca Rivers and Matagorda and 

Lavaca Bays, and

• the river basin and bay system consisting of the 

Guadalupe, San Antonio, Mission, and Aransas 

Rivers and Mission, Copano, Aransas, and San 

Antonio Bays.

This rule is scheduled to be adopted by September 

2012.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

The third rulemaking will cover:

• the river basin and bay system consisting of the Nueces 

River and Corpus Christi and Baffin Bays,

• the river basin and bay system consisting of the Rio 

Grande, the Rio Grande estuary, and the Lower 

Laguna Madre, and

• the Brazos River and its associated bay and 

estuary system.

Scheduled to be adopted by September 2013.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

SB 3 is an adaptive management process.

The TCEQ may alter an environmental flow standard or 

environmental flow set-aside through a rulemaking by 

following a schedule set by the commission.

The TCEQ may not alter a standard more than once every 

10 years unless the work plan for that area allows it.
Environmental Flows and

the SB 3 Process

Ron Ellis

Water Availability Division

512/239-1282

Ron.Ellis@tceq.texas.gov