Groundwater “in place” below a landowner’s property belongs to the landowner; therefore, if a water district – say, the Edwards Aquifer Authority – wants to restrict the landowner’s use of that water it may do so – but not without properly compensating the landowner, the Texas Supreme Court ruled unanimously last week in an opinion authored by Justice Nathan Hecht. (You can find the opinion at austinchronicle.com/documents/groundwater.pdf.)
Experts say the ruling will likely have far-reaching implications in the state, which has been suffering from the one-two punch of a historic drought and a record state budget deficit.
This article appears in March 2 • 2012.