State Rep. Cole Hefner spoke to members of the Mineola Kiwanis Club last Tuesday, Sept. 22, about ongoing efforts to create a regional groundwater conservation district in Northeast Texas.
Hefner attended the meeting at the invitation of Wood County Judge Kevin White, who asked him to discuss groundwater protection and the work underway across the region.
Under Texas’ rule of capture, groundwater generally belongs to the property owner. Hefner said the law was put in place more than 100 years ago, long before the state’s current growth and the technology now available to pump and transport large amounts of water.
Most of that growth is taking place in the state’s metropolitan areas.
“They have a lot of need for water, and we have a lot of water,” Hefner said.
Much of the region sits above the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which supplies cities, water supply corporations and private wells.
Hefner said a groundwater conservation district is the mechanism available under state law to regulate and monitor groundwater production locally.
Creating the proposed district will require legislation. Participating counties are now working through the details of the bill Hefner expects to carry during the 2027 legislative session.
According to Hefner, fourteen of the 15 counties approached have agreed to participate. Each county has appointed a representative to a working committee that will help develop the legislation.
“We’re a ways out from a draft,” Hefner said.
He said the group will likely start with legislation from an existing groundwater conservation district and then make changes based on what the Northeast Texas counties want.
Hefner said he strongly supports creating one large regional district rather than several smaller districts.
“We’re all dipping out of the same bucket. Everybody’s got their straw in the same bucket, so we’re all affected by what happens anywhere in this aquifer,” Hefner said.
One regional district would also spread operating costs among the participating counties and keep regulations consistent across county lines.
Hefner said that if neighboring districts had different pumping restrictions, a commercial producer could potentially move across a county line to avoid stricter regulations while continuing to pump from the same aquifer.
“That’s why I believe strongly in keeping us in one big district,” Hefner said.
Hefner also said he doesn’t want the district to make it difficult for the region to grow, but he wants there to be enough authority to prevent large-scale producers from taking advantage of the resource.
“We don’t want to be so restrictive that we can’t grow and we can’t operate our economy and people want to move here. But we also don’t want to be so lax and loose that people can abuse us and take our water out from under us,” Hefner said.
The district will also need a way to pay for its operations.
Hefner said groundwater conservation districts can be funded through property taxes or user fees, and the counties are pursuing the user-fee option.
Individual domestic and agricultural wells would be exempt under the plan being discussed. Fees would instead apply to commercial users, including municipalities, water supply corporations and industry.
Hefner estimated the cost passed along to customers could be around $4 to $5 per month, but said that amount has not been determined.
“We don’t want the government coming in and permitting wells and telling people we’re going to come onto your property and meter your well and all those things. The way we’re doing it, that kind of stuff wouldn’t happen,” Hefner said.
Hefner also told the group that the possibility of large amounts of groundwater being pumped from Northeast Texas is not simply a future concern.
“We currently have several test wells running in this area, and hundreds are planned in the future. There’s a map for future wells. There’s a pipeline diagram that would be used to pump the water west, and so this is not something that is pie in the sky,” Hefner said.
He added that the proposed pumping is “currently being looked at and currently being developed.”
Large-volume pumping can lower groundwater levels around a well and potentially affect other wells drawing from the same aquifer.
Hefner said the goal is to put protections in place for the region’s groundwater while leaving individual homeowners, farmers and ranchers alone.
“We want to be good neighbors. We want to be good stewards, but we want to protect those private property rights. We don’t want people that are just out there running their home or their little ranchette having the government come over and breathe down their neck. But we don’t want them to be able to just poke a hole in the ground and start piping water for Dallas,” Hefner said.