Source: https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac%24ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=30&pt=1&ch=297&rl=1
Timestamp: 2019-06-26 12:48:00
Document Index: 656034984

Matched Legal Cases: ['§134', '§11', '§14', '§11', '§52', '§59', '§142', '§63', '§71', '§11', '§290', '§21']

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter and in Chapters 288 and 295 of this title (relating to Water Conservation Plans, Drought Contingency Plans, Guidelines and Requirements; and Water Rights, Procedural, respectively), shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Agriculture or agricultural--Any of the following activities:
(E) wildlife management;
(G) aquaculture as defined in Texas Agriculture Code, §134.001, which reads "'aquaculture' or 'fish farming' means the business of producing and selling cultured species raised in private facilities. Aquaculture or fish farming is an agricultural activity."
(3) Appropriations--The process or series of operations by which an appropriative right is acquired. A completed appropriation thus results in an appropriative right; the water to which a completed appropriation in good standing relates is appropriated water.
(4) Appropriative right--The right to impound, divert, store, take, or use a specific quantity of state water acquired by law.
(5) Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project--A project involving the injection of water into a geologic formation for the purpose of subsequent recovery and beneficial use by the project operator.
(6) Baseflow or normal flow--The portion of streamflow uninfluenced by recent rainfall or flood runoff and is comprised of springflow, seepage, discharge from artesian wells or other groundwater sources, and the delayed drainage of large lakes and swamps. (Accountable effluent discharges from municipal, industrial, agricultural, or other uses of ground or surface waters may be included at times.)
(7) Beneficial inflows--Freshwater inflows providing for a salinity, nutrient, and sediment loading regime adequate to maintain an ecologically sound environment in the receiving bay and estuary that is necessary for the maintenance of productivity of economically important and ecologically characteristic sport or commercial fish and shellfish species and estuarine life upon which such fish and shellfish are dependent.
(8) Beneficial use--Use of the amount of water which is economically necessary for a purpose authorized by law, when reasonable intelligence and reasonable diligence are used in applying the water to that purpose and shall include conserved water.
(9) Certificate of adjudication--An instrument evidencing a water right issued to each person adjudicated a water right in conformity with the provisions of Texas Water Code, §11.323, or the final judgment and decree in State of Texas v. Hidalgo County Water Control and Improvement District No. 18, 443 S.W.2d 728 (Texas Civil Appeals - Corpus Christi 1969, writ ref. n.r.e.).
(10) Certified filing--A declaration of appropriation or affidavit which was filed with the State Board of Water Engineers under the provisions of the 33rd Legislature, 1913, General Laws, Chapter 171, §14, as amended.
(11) Claim--A sworn statement filed under Texas Water Code, §11.303.
(12) Commencement of construction--An actual, visible step beyond planning or land acquisition, which forms the beginning of the on-going (continuous) construction of a project in the manner specified in the approved plans and specifications, where required, for that project. The action must be performed in good faith with the bona fide intent to proceed with the construction.
(13) Conservation--Those practices, techniques, and technologies that will reduce the consumption of water, reduce the loss or waste of water, improve the efficiency in the use of water, or increase the recycling and reuse of water so that a water supply is made available for future or alternative uses.
(14) Conserved water--That amount of water saved by a water right holder through practices, techniques, or technologies that would otherwise be irretrievably lost to all consumptive beneficial uses arising from the storage, transportation, distribution, or application of the water. Conserved water does not mean water made available simply through its non-use without the use of such practices, techniques, or technologies.
(15) Dam--Any artificial structure, together with any appurtenant works, which impounds or stores water. All structures which are necessary to impound a single body of water shall be considered as one dam. A structure used only for diverting water from a watercourse by gravity is a diversion dam.
(16) Diffused surface water--Water on the surface of the land in places other than watercourses. Diffused water may flow vagrantly over broad areas coming to rest in natural depressions, playa lakes, bogs, or marshes. (An essential characteristic of diffused water is that its flow is short-lived.)
(17) District--Any district or authority created by authority of the Texas Constitution, either Article III, §52, (b), (1) and (2), or Article XVI, §59.
(18) Domestic use--Use of water by an individual or a household to support domestic activity. Such use may include water for drinking, washing, or culinary purposes; for irrigation of lawns, or of a family garden and/or orchard; for watering of domestic animals; and for water recreation including aquatic and wildlife enjoyment. If the water is diverted, it must be diverted solely through the efforts of the user. Domestic use does not include water used to support activities for which consideration is given or received or for which the product of the activity is sold.
(19) Drought of record--The historic period of record for a watershed in which the lowest flows were known to have occurred based on naturalized streamflow.
(20) Firm yield--That amount of water, that the reservoir could have produced annually if it had been in place during the worst drought of record. In performing this simulation, naturalized streamflows will be modified as appropriate to account for the full exercise of upstream senior water rights is assumed as well as the passage of sufficient water to satisfy all downstream senior water rights valued at their full authorized amounts and conditions as well as the passage of flows needed to meet all applicable permit conditions relating to instream and freshwater inflow requirements.
(21) Groundwater--Water under the surface of the ground other than underflow of a stream and underground streams, whatever may be the geologic structure in which it is standing or moving.
(22) Habitat Mitigation--Actions taken to off-set anticipated adverse environmental impacts from a proposed project. Such actions and their sequence include:
(A) avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action or pursuing a reasonably practicable alternative;
(D) reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the project; and
(23) Hydropower use--The use of water for hydroelectric and hydromechanical power and for other mechanical devices of like nature.
(24) Industrial use--The use of water in processes designed to convert materials of a lower order of value into forms having greater usability and commercial value, including the development of power by means other than hydroelectric, but does not include agricultural use.
(25) Instream use--The beneficial use of instream flows for such purposes including, but not limited to, navigation, recreation, hydropower, fisheries, game preserves, stock raising, park purposes, aesthetics, water quality protection, aquatic and riparian wildlife habitat, freshwater inflows for bays and estuaries, and any other instream use recognized by law. An instream use is a beneficial use of water. Water necessary to protect instream uses for water quality, aquatic and riparian wildlife habitat, recreation, navigation, bays and estuaries, and other public purposes may be reserved from appropriation by the commission.
(26) Irrigation--The use of water for the irrigation of crops, trees, and pasture land, including, but not limited to, golf courses and parks which do not receive water through a municipal distribution system.
(27) Irrigation water efficiency--The percentage of that amount of irrigation water which is beneficially used by agriculture crops or other vegetation relative to the amount of water diverted from the source(s) of supply. Beneficial uses of water for irrigation purposes include but are not limited to evapotranspiration needs for vegetative maintenance and growth and salinity management and leaching requirements associated with irrigation.
(28) Livestock use--The use of water for the open-range watering of livestock, exotic livestock, game animals or fur-bearing animals. For purposes of this definition, the terms livestock and exotic livestock are to be used as defined in Texas Agriculture Code, §142.001, and the terms game animals and fur-bearing animals are to be used as defined in Texas Parks and Wildlife Code, §63.001 and §71.001, respectively.
(29) Mariculture--The propagation and rearing of aquatic species, including shrimp, other crustaceans, finfish, mollusks, and other similar creatures in a controlled environment using brackish or marine water.
(30) Marine seawater--Water that is derived from the Gulf of Mexico.
(31) Mining use--The use of water for mining processes including hydraulic use, drilling, washing sand and gravel, and oil field repressuring.
(32) Municipal per capita water use--The sum total of water diverted into a water supply system for residential, commercial, and public and institutional uses divided by actual population served.
(33) Municipal use--
(A) The use of potable water within a community or municipality and its environs for domestic, recreational, commercial, or industrial purposes or for the watering of golf courses, parks and parkways, other public or recreational spaces; or
(B) the use of reclaimed water in lieu of potable water for the preceding purposes; or
(C) the use of return flows authorized pursuant to Texas Water Code, §11.042, in lieu of potable water for the preceding purposes. Return flows used for human consumption as defined in §290.38(34) of this title (relating to Definitions) must be of a quality suitable for the authorized beneficial use as may be required by applicable commission rules; or
(D) the application of municipal sewage effluent on land, under a Texas Water Code, Chapter 26, permit where:
(34) Navigable stream--By law, Texas Natural Resources Code, §21.001(3), any stream or streambed as long as it maintains from its mouth upstream an average width of 30 feet or more, at which point it becomes statutorily nonnavigable.
(35) Nursery grower--A person engaged in the practice of floriculture, viticulture, silviculture, and horticulture, including the cultivation of plants in containers or nonsoil media, who grows more than 50% of the products that the person either sells or leases, regardless of the variety sold, leased, or grown. For the purpose of this definition, grow means the actual cultivation or propagation of the product beyond the mere holding or maintaining of the item prior to sale or lease and typically includes activities associated with the production or multiplying of stock such as the development of new plants from cuttings, grafts, plugs, or seedlings.
(36) One-hundred-year flood--The flood peak discharge of a stream, based upon statistical data, which would have a 1.0% chance of occurring in any given year.
(37) Permit--The authorization by the commission to a person whose application for a permit has been granted. A permit also means any water right issued, amended, or otherwise administered by the commission unless the context clearly indicates that the water right being referenced is being limited to a certificate of adjudication, certified filing, or unadjudicated claim.