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Buying, selling and exporting Texas groundwater - an important topic for today and in the future |
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By MANDY SPIKES | Central Texas Edition |
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May 5, 2003 -- Buying, selling and exporting Texas groundwater was the topic of discussion during the Groundwater Conservation District Seminar held May 28 in College Station. Ronald Kaiser, professor with Texas A&M University, talked about the status of groundwater. Russell Johnson, attorney with Bracewell and Patterson, L.L.P., discussed groundwater transactions from the buyers perspective. Kaiser stated that the first purpose of the program was to inform landowners about the opportunities for selling and leasing water under their land and how to protect their interests. The second purpose was to inform groundwater conservation district board members, managers and citizens about regulations governing the exportation of groundwater and the fees that can be charged for water export. "Nearly 60 percent of the water used in Texas comes from groundwater. As of today, there is about a 10 percent shortage because of city use, as well as droughts. What concerns us is by the year 2050, we expect there to be a 43 percent shortage in groundwater. " He explained that while agriculture use of water will go down, the amount of water used by municipalities will continue to increase, which will cause this high amount of water shortage. "The long term problem that we are looking at is sustainability. We need to figure how to maintain the amount in our aquifers." Kaiser said that groundwater marketing is the transfer of water and rights between a willing seller, mainly a landowner, and a buyer. The transaction forms are either the lease, sale of right, sale of water, land purchase, or the cooperative. The landowner exports the water by transferring it outside of the county, aquifer, or the groundwater conservation district. "We are here today because right now we are taking out more water than Mother Nature can put in. The critical players in groundwater marketing are the groundwater conservation districts. We have these districts because you wanted them. "We have a long history of groundwater marketing. Current trends we see with this subject is that there is more public involvement, more political controversy, and long range impacts on different rural areas," he said. "We can't use any more groundwater than what we have been using in the past," said Johnson. "We have all seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of water transactions." He stated that the focus of the discussion is on marketing and business. He said business is a good game with lots of competition and a minimum of rules. A person keeps score with the money. "The state has a modern set of rules in Texas. If a seller understands the importance of marketing, then he understands that it's helpful to know where the buyers are." He explained that all areas have groundwater marketing plans and all of the plans will have an effect on groundwater in their area. "Groundwater districts should focus on management of the resource, not on where the water should be used. There needs to be a balance with all landowners. "The long term goal is you should be able to continue the use of groundwater through groundwater districts. There are more than 80 districts and all have set rules for transactions. These districts have an extensive geographic location." He said that when a landowner questions who the buyers are the answer is municipalities, utilities, and industries. When wondering on how to match buyers needs, landowners need to think of a way to structure the transaction to meet the buyers needs. "The value of water depends on a number of variables including quantity, quality, delivery cost, regulatory framework, the buyers, and politics." He stated that raw water in the ground is worth less than raw water on the surface. "The money is always there. It's just the pockets that change." |
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