For Immediate Release
Oct. 7, 2010
Contact: Carmen Fenton
512-469-0171|512-673-3906
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Landowner groups across the state have launched a new website, www.groundwaterownership.com, to help landowners and the public better understand current groundwater ownership issues. The site is part of a growing effort to ensure groundwater continues to be recognized as a vested, real private property right.
Groundwaterownership.com is a one-stop shop where landowners, elected officials and the public can locate information on groundwater ownership rights and regulations, legal reviews and facts, and important events and dates.
According to Texas landowner groups, groundwater is and always has been an integral part of the land and is owned by private landowners. The Texas Constitution and more than 100 years of case law support this position. The groups have joined forces to reaffirm this right in groundwater, while supporting reasonable, science-based regulation for the long-term sustainability of groundwater resources.
Estimates by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) predict that by 2060 Texas’ population will more than double, increasing its water demand by 27 percent. Because groundwater from Texas aquifers supply more than half the water for the state, it is critical that groundwater resources be managed appropriately to provide for current and future use.
The effort, currently supported by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA); the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA); the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB); the Texas Poultry Federation (TPF); the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA); the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association (TSGRA); the Texas Cattle Feeders Association (TCFA); the Texas Association of Dairymen (TAD); the South Texans’ Property Rights Association (STPRA); the Riverside and Landowners Protection Coalition; the Texas Forestry Association; and the Texas Land and Mineral Owners Association (TLMA), brings together more than 400,000 Texans who own more than 50 million acres of private property.
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