The Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, has published a draft white paper on the exploration industry’s use of water in Texas. The draft paper, “Sustainable Water Management in the Texas Oil and Gas Industry,” was written by John Tintera, of the Austin firm Sebree & Tintera. Tintera, formerly executive director…
Articles Posted in Water Rights
Amarillo Court of Appeals Refuses to Apply Accommodation Doctrine to Groundwater
Last week, the Amarillo Court of Appeals issued its opinion inn City of Lubbock v. Coyote Lake Ranch, LLC, No. 07-14-00006-CV, holding that the accommodation doctrine did not apply to restrict the City’s use of Coyote’s land to develop the City’s groundwater under the land. In 1953, the City of…
Who Owns Recycled Water?
The drought in Texas, along with improved recyclying technology, has driven efforts to increase recycling of water used in hydraulic fracturing of wells. According to one estimate, the fracing of wells in 2011 consumed on the order of 135 billion gallons of water – about 0.3 percent of total U.S.…
UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology Issues Updated Draft Report on Water Use
The University of Texas’ Burear of Economic Geology has issued a draft report updating an earlier report on water use by the oil and gas industry in Texas. Among its conclusions: Movement of shale plays into oil-rich areas of the Eagle Ford and West Texas’s Permian Basin have resulted in…
New Website of Texas Groundwater Protection Committee Provides Valuable Resources
The Texas Groundwater Protection Committee has a new website that provides a wealth of information and links for those interested in groundwater resources and regulation in Texas. The Committee was created by the Texas Legislature in 1989 to provide coordination among nine state agencies that deal with groundwater: the Texas…
Groundwater Districts’ Regulation of Water Supply Wells – What Landowners Should Know
A lot has been written lately about the amount of groundwater being used for hydraulic fracturing in shale plays – particularly in the Eagle Ford Shale, and more recently in the Permian Basin. This raises the question whether — and to what extent — exploration companies’ water wells used in…
Texas Supreme Court (finally) Decides EAA v. Day – a Victory for Landowners?
The Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion today in Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, more than a year after it was argued and some thirteen years after the controversy began. It has been eagerly awaited as the court’s ruling on whether a landowner has a “vested” right in groundwater under…
Water 101
Texas is in the middle of one of the most severe droughts in recorded history. The population of the state is growing rapidly, and projections are that such growth will continue. Much of Texas is arid semi-desert, with limited rainfall in normal years. Will water become the limiting factor in…
Demand for Groundwater in the Eagle Ford Shale
The Wall Street Journal published a front-page article in its December 6 edition, “Oil’s Growing Thirst for Water,” that highlights issues with the oil and gas industry’s demand for water in the Eagle Ford and other shale plays. The article quotes Darrell Brownlow, a hydrologist and geochemist and a landowner…
Brownlow Article on Eagle Ford Shale Play and the Carrizo Aquifer
Darell T. Brownlow, Ph.D, has published an article giving his analysis and opinion of the ability of the Carrizo Aquifer to supply water demands caused by fracing of wells in the Eagle Ford play. The article was published in the newsletter of the Texas Ground Water Association, Fountainhead, and can…