Free Oct. 15 event will be held in AgriLife Extension auditorium
Writer: Robert Burns, 903-834-6191, rd-burns@tamu.edu
LONGVIEW – Mark Twain once quipped: “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.”
At no time in previous history has the fighting part been more true as Texas faces a water crisis, said Randy Reeves, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for agriculture and natural resources in Gregg County.
The AgriLife Extension office in Gregg County will host “Who’s Water Is It?” at 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at the AgriLife Extension auditorium, 405 East Marshall Ave. in Longview. The event is free and open to the public, Reeves said.
“This will be a fact-filled evening with one of the most knowledgeable folks in the field, Judon Fambrough, who’s with the Texas Real Estate Center in College Station,” he said. “Fambrough is an attorney specializing in property rights, including oil and gas, wind power, hunting leases and landowner liability.”
In November 2013, Texas voters approved Proposition 6, a constitutional amendment allowing the removal of $2 billion from the state’s “rainy day fund” to finance water projects for the next 50 years, according to Reeves.
“In the past, minerals played a key role in real estate transactions,” he said. “Now, the question is where does water fit into the scheme of property rights? Do landowners own or have the right to use the water located on and under their property?”
Texas law recognizes four categories of water, two on the surface and two underground. The two surface categories include diffused surface water and water in a watercourse, Reeves said.
With few exceptions, such as small lakes or reservoirs on privately owned land, the state has control of the use of all surface water, according to the AgriLife Extension Texas Agriculture Law Blog at http://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/ .
Diffused surface water is defined as water that has not yet entered a watercourse, such as a river, stream or lake. Examples would be falling rain or melting snow, according to the blog.
Underground water includes percolating groundwater and water in an underground stream or lake.
While the state owns most surface water, most, if not all, groundwater is privately owned, according to Reeves.
Beyond these basic facts, it gets complicated, and becomes a matter for attorneys and experts such as Fambrough, he said.
For more information on the program, contact Reeves at 903-236-8429, dr-reeves@tamu.edu, or go to https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/water.pdf .
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