Sec. 8834.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Agricultural crop":

(A) means food or fiber commodities that are grown for resale or commercial purposes and that are to be used for food, clothing, or animal feed; and

(B) includes nursery products and florist items that are in the possession of a nursery grower.

(1-a) "Beneficial use" means any use that is useful or beneficial to the user, including:

(A) an agricultural, gardening, domestic, stock raising, municipal, mining, manufacturing, industrial, commercial, or recreational use, or a use for pleasure purposes; or

(B) exploring for, producing, handling, or treating oil, gas, sulfur, or other minerals.

(2) "Board" means the district's board of directors.

(3) "Commission" means the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

(4) "District" means the Fort Bend Subsidence District.

(4-a) "Florist item" means a cut flower, a potted plant, a blooming plant, an inside foliage plant, a bedding plant, a corsage flower, cut foliage, a floral decoration, or live decorative material.

(5) "Groundwater" means water existing below the earth's surface in the district. The term does not include water produced with oil in the production of oil and gas.

(5-a) "Nursery grower" means a person who grows in any medium more than 50 percent of the nursery products or florist items that the person sells or leases. A person grows a nursery product or florist item if the person cultivates or propagates the product or item by engaging in activities associated with the production or multiplying of stock, including the development of new plants from cuttings, grafts, plugs, or seedlings. The term does not include a person who merely holds or maintains a nursery product or florist item before sale or lease.

(5-b) "Nursery product" includes a tree, shrub, vine, cutting, graft, scion, grass, bulb, or bud that is grown or kept for, or capable of, propagation and distribution for sale or lease.

(5-c) "Regional water supplier" means a political subdivision of this state that has:

(A) the authority to conserve, store, transport, treat, distribute, sell, and deliver water to any person; and

(B) an approved groundwater reduction plan.

(6) "Subsidence" means the lowering in elevation of the surface of land by groundwater withdrawal.

(7) "Waste" means:

(A) groundwater withdrawal from a groundwater reservoir at a rate and in an amount that causes or threatens to cause intrusion into the reservoir of water unsuitable for agricultural, gardening, domestic, or stock raising purposes;

(B) groundwater withdrawal from a groundwater reservoir through a well if the water withdrawn is not used for a beneficial use or if the amount used is more than is reasonably required for a beneficial use;

(C) escape of groundwater from a groundwater reservoir to any other reservoir or geologic strata that does not contain groundwater;

(D) pollution or harmful alteration of groundwater in a groundwater reservoir by saltwater or other harmful matter admitted from another stratum or from the surface of the ground;

(E) unless the discharge is authorized by a permit, rule, or order issued by the commission under Chapter 26, Water Code, wilfully or negligently causing, suffering, or allowing groundwater to escape or flow:

(i) into a river, creek, natural watercourse, depression, lake, reservoir, drain, sewer, street, highway, road, or road ditch; or

(ii) onto land that does not belong to the owner of the well;

(F) unless the occupant of the land receiving the discharge granted permission for the discharge, the escape of groundwater pumped for irrigation as irrigation tailwater onto land that does not belong to the owner of the well; or

(G) wilfully causing or knowingly permitting the water withdrawn from an artesian well to run off the owner's land or to percolate through the stratum above which the water is found, as prescribed by Section 11.205, Water Code.

(7-a) "Water conservation" means a measure that seeks to make a water supply available for alternative or future use. The term includes best management practices, improved efficiency or accountability, recycling, reuse, pollution prevention, and reduction in consumption, loss, or waste.

(8) "Well" means a facility, device, or method used to withdraw groundwater.

(8-a) "Well owner" means a person who has an ownership interest in a well, operates a well, owns land on which a well is located, or owns the water withdrawn or to be withdrawn from a well.

(9) "Withdrawal" means the act of extracting by pumping or another method.

Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1139 (H.B. 2619), Sec. 1.05, eff. April 1, 2011.

Amended by:

Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 200 (S.B. 1811), Sec. 1, eff. May 25, 2013.