Groundwater is critical in Texas, representing 60 percent of total water used in 2008. Water demands in Texas are projected to increase 22 percent, largely from an almost doubling of population, within the next 50 years; this ever-increasing pressure on Texas water supplies underscores the need to optimize management of water resources. The objective of this study was to assess regulations, scientific information, and rulemaking by groundwater conservation districts (GCDs) that support policies that achieve the legislative intent of GCDs to protect and conserve groundwater resources of the states aquifers. This study's scope was the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer and managing GCDs and the following key topics were evaluated 1) management and protection issues; 2) if and how GCDs are utilizing science in development of management plans and rules; 3) whether GCDs are implementing management plans and using enforcement actions; 4) determining if GCDs would have production budgets in conflict with the Regional and State Water Plan and use of the aquifer; 5) and comparing the management plans of GCDs for compatibility. Two online surveys were developed to solicit responses from GCDs and interested parties. Results show that the predominant management issues stemmed from the uncertainty in how groundwater production was regulated and how future permitting would proceed. Environmental interest groups were concerned that GCDs would not adequately incorporate science that supports groundwater production budgets. Stakeholder groups perceived groundwater conservation management as adversely impacting their individual property rights and their region’s ability to develop water management strategies that address projected water budgets. Few formal enforcement actions have been taken by GCDs since 2007. Current water budgets and desired future conditions by the GCDs for the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer do not conflict or result in long-term deficits with respect to water budget projections established by the 2011 Regional Water Plans. GCDs adopted groundwater management plans that addressed goals including conservation and recharge, as outlined in the Texas Water Code, by creating varied objectives and standards. Unanimous public acceptance of the management plans and rules established by the GCDs may never be accomplished, but acceptance will improve through the continuation of public communication, stakeholder coordination, and education. / text

This thesis examines the history of groundwater management through the development of groundwater conservation districts in Texas. Political, economic, ideological, and scientific understandings of groundwater and its regulation varied across the state, as did the natural resource types and quantities, which created a diverse and complicated position for lawmakers and landowners. Groundwater was consistently interpreted as a private property right and case law protected unrestricted use for the majority of the twentieth-century even as groundwater resources crossed property and political boundaries, and water tables declined particularly during the second-half of the century. The case study of the Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District describes the complicated history of groundwater in Texas as the state attempted to balance natural resource legislation and private property rights and illuminate groundwater’s importance for the future.

Management of groundwater as a common pool resource relies heavily on an institutional design that is fitted to the aquifers to be managed and is scaled to provide efficient and effective governance. Texas has committed to a decentralized system of groundwater management through Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) that offers a high level of local control and area-specific adaptability. However, increasing pressures on the state’s groundwater resources coupled with a strong local aversion to outsider interference has resulted in a proliferation of small single-county GCDs that are neither well fitted to the aquifer systems nor sufficiently scaled to be efficient or effective. In recognition of these challenges, the persistent response has been a slow transition towards larger-scale management. Although a full transition to centralization via state control is not likely to be politically feasible, it would also be limited in its effectiveness, recognizing the wide diversity of climate conditions, water use patterns, growth projections, and aquifer characteristics that exist across the state. Regionalization is offered as a policy proposal for an institutional arrangement and scale of groundwater governance that provides a balance between centralization and decentralization, using institutions that are better fitted to the aquifer systems and appropriately scaled to provide sufficient funding and resources. The merits and logic of regionalized groundwater management have been recognized as demonstrated by the establishment of the joint regional-planning process within aquifer-based Groundwater Management Areas (GMAs), using GCD representatives as the de facto regional groundwater planners. However, the new unfunded mandates for which the already underfunded GCDs are now responsible and the extraordinary planning process complexity that has developed may prove to be unworkable. This realization compels consideration of management through regional authorities designed using the ready-made framework of the GMAs and principles gleaned from successful models of regionalization from other states and within Texas. Such regional authorities, if provided with sufficient resources and authority, would respect the logic of fit and scale and would be better equipped to address the current and future groundwater management challenges in Texas. / text