Environmental flows in Texas: Senate Bill 3 intent and practice

Background/Question/Methods

On the last day of the 2007 session of the 80^th Texas Legislature, a process was established to determine environmental flow standards for all of the major river basins and bay systems in Texas.  Not only is this law unique because it is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the nation, but it also has the potential to set a national precedent for sustainable resource management.  Senate Bill 3 was fashioned to be an accelerated stakeholder-driven, scientific and consensus-based process that utilizes adaptive management into the future, with intent to address two major questions:  1) how much water is needed to sustain a sound ecological environment in the state’s rivers and estuaries, and 2) how can this water be protected?  For each of 11 major river basins and associated bay systems in Texas, a technical committee of scientific experts, guided by a statewide Science Advisory Committee (SAC), was created to develop instream flow and freshwater inflow recommendations using only the best available science.  In order to balance the scientific-based recommendations that are protective of the environment with the need for human uses of water, as well as to develop strategies to meet those balanced recommendations, diverse stakeholder groups were created for each basin.  Ultimately, through a public rule-making process, the state’s water permitting and regulatory agency will legally adopt environmental flow standards that can be implemented as restrictions on future water permits or designated as “set-asides.”  This presentation will describe the Senate Bill 3 process for environmental flows in Texas and discuss in detail the status of the process to date. 

Results/Conclusions

Currently, seven of the 11 major river basins in Texas are in some stage of the process; however, certain issues hindered progress in the first two basins, such as very tight deadlines under which the recommendations must be developed, limited funding, simultaneous development of SAC guidance and science team flow recommendations, and multiple approaches to interpretation and implementation of the flow recommendations.  These complexities made consensus difficult to achieve within some groups.  As the State moves forward with the Senate Bill 3 process, certain Lessons Learned have been revealed in light of the aforementioned issues and will serve as a point of discussion in order to guide others who are considering developing a similar environmental flows process or water management policy for their region.