EDF Water Expert Vanessa Puig-Williams Urges Texas Legislators to Protect Vital Underground Water Supplies

(AUSTIN, Texas – July 16, 2025) – Vanessa Puig-Williams, senior director of Environmental Defense Fund's Texas Water Program, testified  Tuesday at a packed public hearing called by the Texas House Committee on Natural Resources to explore the impact of high-capacity and large volume groundwater pumping in East Texas. 

The hearing was prompted by a controversial high-capacity groundwater well application, which raised concerns from hundreds of people at a public hearing before the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District last month. 

“Groundwater is the lifeblood of Texas — the invisible yet critical resource that provides over half of the state’s water supply, over 30% of the water in our rivers and creeks, approximately 80% of the water used for agriculture, and is often the sole source of water for rural communities and landowners,” Puig-Williams told the committee. “Texas has a good framework for managing groundwater, but current law does not give groundwater conservation districts (GCDs) sufficiently clear authority or mandates to sustainably manage groundwater and ensure it is available for communities, farmers, ranchers, and the environment in the long term.”

Under current Texas law, groundwater is considered real property owned by the overlying landowner. Local groundwater conservation districts, the regulatory entities charged with managing groundwater, have the difficult task of regulating a shared resource that is also privately owned.

“The state’s hands-off regulatory approach may have sufficiently protected groundwater when Texas had a smaller population and less demand for water. But the state is growing by more than 1,200 people a day, and large groundwater production projects, like the one before the Neches and Trinity Valley GCD, will impact other groundwater users,” Puig-Williams said. “The only way to protect these users and property rights of all who share the resource — and in some cases the very drinking water that comes out of their kitchen sinks — is through more robust, science-based regulations that enable local groundwater districts to make informed decisions that ensure there is enough groundwater for generations to come.” 

In her full testimony, Puig-Williams outlined several solutions to protect groundwater in the long term, thereby also protecting the property rights of Texans who depend on the resource, including:

• More funding for groundwater science: Funding for robust groundwater monitoring networks, refined local groundwater models, and site-specific studies of groundwater-surface water interactions is needed to help a groundwater district understand how a large-scale groundwater production project may affect other water users. Without this information, the district is making decisions blindfolded.
   
• Strengthen GCDs authority on export permits: GCDs need clear authority and additional criteria to deny large-scale groundwater export projects, which can disproportionately affect the future of communities where the groundwater is produced. For example, in Nevada, the Nevada State Engineer must consider whether the applicant has justified the need to import the water from another basin, whether the export is environmentally sound, and whether it will limit the future growth and development of the basin with the water. In Florida, water managers must consider whether there are other feasible alternative water sources, such as desalination or wastewater reuse.
   
• Require GCDs to consider sustainable yield and give them clear authority to cap groundwater production to protect all users and their property rights: Most groundwater districts do not know how much groundwater pumping can be sustained, nor does the law require them to consider that information when evaluating permits. They should be required to understand then consider how much groundwater can be sustainably pumped in the long term without harming other users. 
  
  Moreover, with increased pressure on groundwater resources across the state, it is time for the Legislature to give groundwater districts clear authority to cap groundwater production when certain conditions are met.
   
• Conduct a statewide groundwater/surface water interaction assessment: To understand if a groundwater project could affect a river or spring, a groundwater district needs a significant amount of site-specific data, which is currently lacking across the state. The Legislature should require the Texas Water Development Board to work with groundwater districts to identify and prioritize where more of this data is needed.

Read Puig-Williams’ full testimony here