Sec. 16.060. DESALINATION STUDIES AND RESEARCH. (a) The board shall undertake or participate in research, feasibility and facility planning studies, investigations, and surveys as it considers necessary to further the development of cost-effective water supplies from seawater or brackish groundwater desalination in the state.

(b) The board shall prepare a biennial progress report on the implementation of seawater or brackish groundwater desalination activities in the state and shall submit it to the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house of representatives not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year. The report shall include:

(1) results of the board's studies and activities relative to seawater or brackish groundwater desalination during the preceding biennium;

(2) identification and evaluation of research, regulatory, technical, and financial impediments to the implementation of seawater or brackish groundwater desalination projects;

(3) evaluation of the role the state should play in furthering the development of large-scale seawater or brackish groundwater desalination projects in the state;

(4) the anticipated appropriation from general revenues necessary to continue investigating water desalination activities in the state during the next biennium; and

(5) identification and designation of local or regional brackish groundwater production zones in areas of the state with moderate to high availability and productivity of brackish groundwater that can be used to reduce the use of fresh groundwater and that:

(A) are separated by hydrogeologic barriers sufficient to prevent significant impacts to water availability or water quality in any area of the same or other aquifers, subdivisions of aquifers, or geologic strata that have an average total dissolved solids level of 1,000 milligrams per liter or less at the time of designation of the zones; and

(B) are not located in:

(i) an area of the Edwards Aquifer subject to the jurisdiction of the Edwards Aquifer Authority;

(ii) the boundaries of the:

(a) Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District;

(b) Harris-Galveston Subsidence District; or

(c) Fort Bend Subsidence District;

(iii) an aquifer, subdivision of an aquifer, or geologic stratum that:

(a) has an average total dissolved solids level of more than 1,000 milligrams per liter; and

(b) is serving as a significant source of water supply for municipal, domestic, or agricultural purposes at the time of designation of the zones; or

(iv) an area of a geologic stratum that is designated or used for wastewater injection through the use of injection wells or disposal wells permitted under Chapter 27.

(c) The board shall actively pursue federal sources of funding for desalination projects in the state.

(d) The board shall work together with groundwater conservation districts and stakeholders and shall consider the Brackish Groundwater Manual for Texas Regional Water Planning Groups, and any updates to the manual, and other relevant scientific data or findings when identifying and designating brackish groundwater production zones under Subsection (b)(5).

(e) In designating a brackish groundwater production zone under this section, the board shall:

(1) determine the amount of brackish groundwater that the zone is capable of producing over a 30-year period and a 50-year period without causing a significant impact to water availability or water quality as described by Subsection (b)(5)(A); and

(2) include in the designation description:

(A) the amounts of brackish groundwater that the zone is capable of producing during the periods described by Subdivision (1); and

(B) recommendations regarding reasonable monitoring to observe the effects of brackish groundwater production within the zone.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 49, Sec. 2, eff. May 15, 2003.

Amended by:

Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 990 (H.B. 30), Sec. 3, eff. June 19, 2015.

Reenacted by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 324 (S.B. 1488), Sec. 19.002, eff. September 1, 2017.