| OCR Text |
Show TEXAS 703 administration. Biennial reports are required to be made to the Gov- ernor. In addition to rulemaking and certain rate-fixing powers, the commission is required to act upon all applications for permits to appropriate water or to construct storage or transportation works. Hearings on applications are provided for, and the commission may enforce its rules by injunction or other appropriate remedy. Judicial review of the commission's acts may be had by aggrieved parties. Perhaps the most interesting provision in the chapter outlining the agency's duties is the requirement that it continually evaluate out- standing permits and certified filings and, where necessary, carry out the program of canceling ancient unused permits. This program of the commission has been described briefly in section 1, supra, and is discussed further in section 3.4, infra. In addition to the water rights commission, two other agencies of the State play important roles in the management of water resources. The water quality board is discussed in section 2.3, infra. The water development board 17 is charged with the responsibility of making studies relating to the occurrence, quantity, quality, and availability of surface and ground waters. A staff of experts determines suitable locations for future water facilities, locates land best suited for irri- gation, makes estimates of the cost of proposed irrigation works and the improvement of reservoir sites, and examines and surveys reser- voir sites. Also, the board is required to prepare a comprehensive State water plan. It is to be a flexible guide to State policy for the development of water resources. The board is authorized to issue water development bonds in planning water resource development projects. The preliminary Texas water plan was submitted by the board in May 1966.18 It became a controversial matter, and the bond- ing proposals to carry out this most comprehensive program were defeated in a general election. 2.2 Resolution of Water Use Conflicts a. WATER RIGHTS DISPUTES Although the courts are available to resolve private disputes among appropriators and riparians, this discussion is concerned primarily with the resolution of controversies between applicants for a permit at the State administrative level and with the use of general adjudi- cation proceedings to establish rights among water users on a par- ticular stream.19 In post states, the agency charged with responsibility for granting permits has some discretion in making a decision between competing applicants, although sometimes the standard is so broad as to be virtually meaningless, as when the sole criterion is that the "public interest" shall be advanced. Texas purports to establish certain guidelines for administrative discretion. In the first place, under section 5.122, the commission is obliged to give preference to certain "Sees. 11.001 to 11.503. 18 The plan is discussed in W. Stoll, The Texas Water Plan: Looking Ahead 50 Years, 13 Public Affairs Comment, No. 4 (July 1967). See also R. Tyler, Water Law in Terms of Planning a Future for West Texas, 31 Texas Bar J. 365 (1968). 19 See, generally, Administrative Government in Texas, IV. The Texas Water Rights Commission: Allocating a Limited Natural Resource for Competing Uses, 47 Tex. L. Rev. 805, 864-885 (1969). |
