| (26) Instream use--The beneficial use of instream flows
for such purposes including, but not limited to, navigation, recreation,
hydropower, fisheries, game preserves, stock raising, park purposes,
aesthetics, water quality protection, aquatic and riparian wildlife
habitat, freshwater inflows for bays and estuaries, and any other
instream use recognized by law. An instream use is a beneficial use
of water. Water necessary to protect instream uses for water quality,
aquatic and riparian wildlife habitat, recreation, navigation, bays
and estuaries, and other public purposes may be reserved from appropriation
by the commission.
(27) Irrigation--The use of water for the irrigation
of crops, trees, and pasture land, including, but not limited to,
golf courses and parks which do not receive water through a municipal
distribution system.
(28) Irrigation water efficiency--The percentage of
that amount of irrigation water which is beneficially used by agriculture
crops or other vegetation relative to the amount of water diverted
from the source(s) of supply. Beneficial uses of water for irrigation
purposes include but are not limited to evapotranspiration needs for
vegetative maintenance and growth and salinity management and leaching
requirements associated with irrigation.
(29) Livestock use--The use of water for the open-range
watering of livestock, exotic livestock, game animals or fur-bearing
animals. For purposes of this definition, the terms livestock and
exotic livestock are to be used as defined in Texas Agriculture Code, §142.001,
and the terms game animals and fur-bearing animals are to be used
as defined in Texas Parks and Wildlife Code, §63.001 and §71.001,
respectively.
(30) Mariculture--The propagation and rearing of aquatic
species, including shrimp, other crustaceans, finfish, mollusks, and
other similar creatures in a controlled environment using brackish
or marine water.
(31) Marine seawater--Water that is derived from the
Gulf of Mexico.
(32) Mining use--The use of water for mining processes
including hydraulic use, drilling, washing sand and gravel, and oil
field repressuring.
(33) Municipal per capita water use--The sum total
of water diverted into a water supply system for residential, commercial,
and public and institutional uses divided by actual population served.
(34) Municipal use--
(A) The use of potable water within a community or
municipality and its environs for domestic, recreational, commercial,
or industrial purposes or for the watering of golf courses, parks
and parkways, other public or recreational spaces; or
(B) the use of reclaimed water in lieu of potable water
for the preceding purposes; or
(C) the use of return flows authorized pursuant to
Texas Water Code, §11.042, in lieu of potable water for the preceding
purposes. Return flows used for human consumption as defined in §290.38(34)
of this title (relating to Definitions) must be of a quality suitable
for the authorized beneficial use as may be required by applicable
commission rules; or
(D) the application of municipal sewage effluent on
land, under a Texas Water Code, Chapter 26, permit where:
(i) the application site is land owned or leased by
the Chapter 26 permit holder; or
(ii) the application site is within an area for which
the commission has adopted a no-discharge rule.
(35) Navigable stream--By law, Texas Natural Resources
Code, §21.001(3), any stream or streambed as long as it maintains
from its mouth upstream an average width of 30 feet or more, at which
point it becomes statutorily nonnavigable.
(36) Nursery grower--A person engaged in the practice
of floriculture, viticulture, silviculture, and horticulture, including
the cultivation of plants in containers or nonsoil media, who grows
more than 50% of the products that the person either sells or leases,
regardless of the variety sold, leased, or grown. For the purpose
of this definition, grow means the actual cultivation or propagation
of the product beyond the mere holding or maintaining of the item
prior to sale or lease and typically includes activities associated
with the production or multiplying of stock such as the development
of new plants from cuttings, grafts, plugs, or seedlings.
(37) One-hundred-year flood--The flood peak discharge
of a stream, based upon statistical data, which would have a 1.0%
chance of occurring in any given year.
(38) Permit--The authorization by the commission to
a person whose application for a permit has been granted. A permit
also means any water right issued, amended, or otherwise administered
by the commission unless the context clearly indicates that the water
right being referenced is being limited to a certificate of adjudication,
certified filing, or unadjudicated claim.
(39) Pollution--The alteration of the physical, thermal,
chemical, or biological quality of, or the contamination of any water
in the state that renders the water harmful or detrimental to humans,
animal life, vegetation, or property, or the public health, safety
or welfare, or impairs the usefulness of the public enjoyment of the
waters for any lawful or reasonable purpose.
(40) Priority--As between appropriators, the first
in time is the first in right, Texas Water Code, §11.027, unless
determined otherwise by an appropriate court or state law.
(41) Reclaimed water--Municipal or industrial wastewater
or process water that is under the direct control of the treatment
plant owner/operator, or agricultural tailwater that has been collected
for reuse, and which has been treated to a quality suitable for the
authorized beneficial use.
(42) Recreational use--The use of water impounded in
or diverted or released from a reservoir or watercourse for fishing,
swimming, water skiing, boating, hunting, and other forms of water
recreation, including aquatic and wildlife enjoyment, and aesthetic
land enhancement of a subdivision, golf course, or similar development.
(43) Register--The Texas Register.
(44) Reservoir system operations--The coordinated operation
of more than one reservoir or a reservoir in combination with a direct
diversion facility in order to optimize available water supplies.
(45) Return water or return flow--That portion of state
water diverted from a water supply and beneficially used which is
not consumed as a consequence of that use and returns to a watercourse.
Return flow includes sewage effluent.
(46) Reuse--The authorized use for one or more beneficial
purposes of use of water that remains unconsumed after the water is
used for the original purpose of use and before that water is either
disposed of or discharged or otherwise allowed to flow into a watercourse,
lake, or other body of state-owned water.
(47) River basin--A river or coastal basin designated
by the Texas Water Development Board as a river basin under Texas
Water Code, §16.051. The term does not include waters originating
in bays or arms of the Gulf of Mexico.
(48) Runoff--That portion of streamflow comprised of
surface drainage or rainwater from land or other surfaces during or
immediately following a rainfall.
(49) Secondary use--The reuse of state water for a
purpose after the original, authorized use.
(50) Sewage or sewage effluent--Water-carried human
or animal wastes from residences, buildings, industrial establishments,
cities, towns, or other places, together with any groundwater infiltration
and surface waters with which it may be commingled.
(51) Spreader dam--A levee-type embankment placed on
alluvial fans or within a flood plain of a watercourse, common to
land use practices, for the purpose of overland spreading of diffused
waters and overbank flows.
(52) State water--The water of the ordinary flow, underflow,
and tides of every flowing river, natural stream, and lake, and of
every bay or arm of the Gulf of Mexico, and the stormwater, floodwater,
and rainwater of every river, natural stream, and watercourse in the
state. State water also includes water which is imported from any
source outside the boundaries of the state for use in the state and
which is transported through the beds and banks of any navigable stream
within the state or by utilizing any facilities owned or operated
by the state. State water does not include percolating groundwater;
nor does it include diffuse surface rainfall runoff, groundwater seepage,
or springwater before it reaches a watercourse.
(53) Stormwater or floodwater--Water flowing in a watercourse
as the result of recent rainfall.
(54) Streamflow--The water flowing within a watercourse.
(55) Surplus water--Water taken from any source in
excess of the initial or continued beneficial use of the appropriator
for the purpose or purposes authorized by law. Water that is recirculated
within a reservoir for cooling purposes shall not be considered to
be surplus water.
Cont'd... |
