Chronicle of a Demise Foretold: State vs. Local Groundwater Management in Texas and the High Plains Aquifer System
This paper assesses a case of co-management of groundwater between the state of Texas, pushing for the rationalisation of groundwater management, and local (mainly farming) communities organised in Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs), which are protective of their private groundwater rights....
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Water Alternatives Association
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Water Alternatives |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol11/v11issue3/451-a11-3-4/file |
| Summary: | This paper assesses a case of co-management of groundwater between the state of Texas, pushing for
the rationalisation of groundwater management, and local (mainly farming) communities organised in
Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs), which are protective of their private groundwater rights. We first
describe the main legal and policy steps that have shaped this relationship. The article focuses on the Texan
portion of the Ogallala Aquifer in the High Plains aquifer system – an almost non-renewable system covering
90,000 km2
and providing 95% of the irrigation needs in northern Texas. With this example, we further highlight
the strategies of both parties, the different political, administrative, legal and regulatory complexities of the
struggle around the definition of GCD-level aquifer management rules (the so-called 'Desired Future Conditions').
We end by reflecting on the power balance that has resulted from successive adjustments to a co-management
form of governance, the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-layered state water governance system, and
whether the de facto 'managed depletion' of the Ogallala Aquifer in Texas should be seen as an achievement or a
failure. |
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| ISSN: | 1965-0175 1965-0175 |