Opinion ID: 1625255
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: conclusion

Text: Under the law, the Department may not grant permits when its own records show that the supply must come from an existing downstream permittee's water that the Department speculates he will not actually need. Section 11.025 places a limit on the amount of water that can be used benefically or the amount the senior holders can claim, even though the face amount of their permits may be more. Among other things, that limitation serves to distribute the water appropriately when there is a drought. It does not mean the Department may intentionally overappropriate. A contrary decision would return water rights to the state of chaos that the act is designed to avoid. For example, upstream junior permit holders whose grants depended upon an overappropriation of the stream would suffer the most from deprivation of water in times of drought. The water source they had come to rely upon would be denied them. The legislature also recognized the important principle of beneficial use. No person is granted the right to waste water by not using it. In re Adjudication of the Water Rights of the Upper Guadalupe River Basin, 642 S.W.2d 438 (Tex. 1982); Texas Water Rights Commission v. Wright, 464 S.W.2d 642 (Tex.1971). It is for that reason that unbeneficial use can be corrected by cancellation. To order partial cancellation of a permit for nonuse, the Commission must find, among other facts, that the permittee was not justified in his nonuse or does not have a bona fide intention of putting the unused water to an authorized beneficial use within a reasonable time. Tex. Water Code Ann. § 11.182(a)(3). The legislature directed the Commission to consider the financial investment made and the amount of time usually necessary for development in making its determination. Tex. Water Code Ann. § 11.182(b)(1), (4). The Water District and the Department have a remedy expressly granted by the legislature. If there exist recorded permits, filings and certificates of adjudication that will not reasonably be used in the future, the Department or another interested party must seek total or partial cancellation of those rights. Only after sufficient cancellations have freed that water from its commitment, may the Department again grant a permit to appropriate it. We reverse the judgments of the courts below and set aside the permit granted by the Texas Department of Water Resources to the Colorado River Municipal Water District. RAY, J., files a concurring opinion.