CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
WATER CODE
TITLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
SUBCHAPTER A. PURPOSE AND POLICY
Sec. 1.001. PURPOSE OF CODE. (a) This code is enacted as a
part of the state's continuing statutory revision program, begun
by the Texas Legislative Council in 1963 as directed by the
legislature in Chapter 448, Acts of the 58th Legislature, Regular
Session, 1963 (Article 5429b-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
The program contemplates a topic-by-topic revision of the state's
general and permanent statute law without substantive change.
(b) Consistent with the objectives of the statutory revision
program, the purpose of this code is to make the general and
permanent water law more accessible and understandable, by:
(1) rearranging the statutes into a more logical order;
(2) employing a format and numbering system designed to
facilitate citation of the law and to accommodate future
expansion of the law;
(3) eliminating repealed, duplicative, unconstitutional,
expired, executed, and other ineffective provisions; and
(4) restating the law in modern American English to the greatest
extent possible.
(c) This restatement shall not in any way make any changes in
the substantive laws of the State of Texas.
(d) Laws of a local or special nature, such as statutes creating
various kinds of conservation and reclamation districts, are not
included in, or affected by, this code. The legislature believes
that persons interested in these local and special laws may rely
on the session laws and on compilations of these laws.
Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 110, ch. 58, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1971.
Sec. 1.002. CONSTRUCTION OF CODE. (a) The Code Construction
Act (Chapter 311, Government Code) applies to the construction of
each provision in this code, except as otherwise expressly
provided by this code.
(b) In this code:
(1) a reference to a title, chapter, or section without further
identification is a reference to a title, chapter, or section of
this code; and
(2) a reference to a subtitle, subchapter, subsection,
subdivision, paragraph, or other numbered or lettered unit
without further identification is a reference to a unit of the
next larger unit of this code in which the reference appears.
(c) A reference in a law to a statute or part of a statute
revised by this code is considered to be a reference to the part
of this code that revises that statute or part of the statute.
Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 110, ch. 58, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1971.
Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 479, Sec. 74, eff. Sept. 1,
1985; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 715, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.
Sec. 1.003. PUBLIC POLICY. It is the public policy of the state
to provide for the conservation and development of the state's
natural resources, including:
(1) the control, storage, preservation, and distribution of the
state's storm and floodwaters and the waters of its rivers and
streams for irrigation, power, and other useful purposes;
(2) the reclamation and irrigation of the state's arid,
semiarid, and other land needing irrigation;
(3) the reclamation and drainage of the state's overflowed land
and other land needing drainage;
(4) the conservation and development of its forest, water, and
hydroelectric power;
(5) the navigation of the state's inland and coastal waters;
(6) the maintenance of a proper ecological environment of the
bays and estuaries of Texas and the health of related living
marine resources; and
(7) the voluntary stewardship of public and private lands to
benefit waters of the state.
Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 110, ch. 58, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1971.
Amended by Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 925, ch. 344, Sec. 1, eff.
June 19, 1975.
Amended by:
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.
1352, Sec. 1, eff. June 15, 2007.
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.
1430, Sec. 2.01, eff. September 1, 2007.
Sec. 1.004. FINDINGS AND POLICY REGARDING LAND STEWARDSHIP. (a)
The legislature finds that voluntary land stewardship enhances
the efficiency and effectiveness of this state's watersheds by
helping to increase surface water and groundwater supplies,
resulting in a benefit to the natural resources of this state and
to the general public. It is therefore the policy of this state
to encourage voluntary land stewardship as a significant water
management tool.
(b) "Land stewardship," as used in this code, is the voluntary
practice of managing land to conserve or enhance suitable
landscapes and the ecosystem values of the land. Land
stewardship includes land and habitat management, wildlife
conservation, and watershed protection. Land stewardship
practices include runoff reduction, prescribed burning, managed
grazing, brush management, erosion management, reseeding with
native plant species, riparian management and restoration, and
spring and creek-bank protection, all of which benefit the water
resources of this state.
Added by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.
1352, Sec. 2, eff. June 15, 2007.
Added by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.
1430, Sec. 2.02, eff. September 1, 2007.