By: Schwertner S.B. No. 616
(In the Senate - Filed December 13, 2024; February 3, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on Water, Agriculture and
Rural Affairs; February 25, 2025, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; February 25, 2025, sent to
printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to aquifer storage and recovery projects that transect a
portion of the Edwards Aquifer.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 27.051(i), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(i) For purposes of this subsection, "Edwards Aquifer" has
the meaning assigned by Section 26.046(a). Except as otherwise
provided by this subsection, the commission may not authorize by
rule or permit an injection well that transects or terminates in the
Edwards Aquifer. The commission by rule or permit may authorize:
(1) injection of groundwater withdrawn from the
Edwards Aquifer;
(2) injections of storm water, flood water, or
groundwater through improved sinkholes or caves located in karst
topographic areas; [or]
(3) injections of water made in accordance with
Section 1.44(e)(3), Chapter 626, Acts of the 73rd Legislature,
Regular Session, 1993; or
(4) an aquifer storage and recovery project that
includes an ASR injection well, as defined under Section 27.151,
that transects the Edwards Aquifer in the area of Williamson County
east of Interstate Highway 35 for the injection of water into a
geologic formation that underlies the Edwards Aquifer.
SECTION 2. Not later than March 1, 2026, the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt rules to implement
Section 27.051(i), Water Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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