taken into account, as the topic of 

 freshwater inflow for bays and 

 estuaries is considered. 



Since practically all (97.5%) of 

 the coastal fishery species are con- 

 sidered estuarine-dependent , and 

 since the esturies themselves are 

 dependent upon freshwater inflows 

 for nutrients, sediments, and a 

 viable salinity gradient, the oc- 

 currence of sufficient freshwater 

 inflow is necessary to maintain the 

 productivity of Texas estuaries. 



Enactment of Senate Bill 1139 

 by the 65th Texas Legislature (1977) 

 resulted in the consolidation of the 

 three former Texas water agencies; 

 the Texas Water Development Board 

 (TWDB), the Texas Water Quality 

 Board (TWQB) , and the Texas Water 

 Rights Commission (TWRC) . In so 

 doing, Senate Bill 1139 created a 

 new Texas Department of Water Re- 

 sources (TDWR) with a newly-created 

 Texas Water Commission (TWC) as its 

 judicial arm, and the existing six- 

 member gubernatorially-appointed and 

 Senate confirmed Water Development 

 Board incorporated as TDWR's policy 

 branch. All executive and adminis- 

 trative functions of TDWR are the 

 responsibility of the executive 

 director, who is employed by the 

 board. The executive director also 

 assumes the mandates for development 

 of and periodic updating and amend- 

 ing, as necessary, a Texas Water 

 Plan and completion of comprehensive 

 studies to determine freshwater in- 

 flow needs of Texas bays and estu- 

 aries. The TDWR is charged with the 

 responsibility of ensuring that all 

 present and future water needs of 

 the State are met through an orderly 

 water development and management 

 program. 



The substantive law of Texas 

 with regard to water development, 

 water quality, and water rights was 



not altered by consolidation of the 

 water agencies. However, under 

 TDWR an increasingly effective co- 

 ordination of water quantity and 

 water quality programs is being 

 realized since problems and solu- 

 tions associated with both aspects 

 of water resources management are 

 now within the sphere of a single 

 water resources agency. 



State law directs the execu- 

 tive director to "prepare, develop, 

 and formulate a comprehensive state 

 water plan," wherein the director 

 must "also give consideration in 

 the plan to the effect of upstream 

 development on the bays, estuaries, 

 and arms of the Gulf of Mexico and 

 to the effect of the plan on navi- 

 gation" (Section 16.051, Texas 

 Water Code) . Codified from the 

 Texas Water Development Board Act 

 of 1957, these statute provisions 

 were the first legislative direct- 

 ives to focus Texas water resources 

 planning on the real problems asso- 

 ciated with alteration and/or de- 

 pletion of riverine flows to the 

 estuaries . 



As a result of the Legisla- 

 ture's 1957 planning mandate, a 

 Texas Water Plan was prepared, pub- 

 lished, and released in 1968. Fol- 

 lowing an affirmative finding by the 

 Texas Water Rights Commission that 

 the plan gave adequate considera- 

 tion to the protection of existing 

 water rights, the plan was formally 

 adopted by the Texas Water Develop- 

 ment Board in 1969. In addition 

 to describing the State's water re- 

 sources, projected requirements, 

 and a proposed plan of development 

 for each of the river basins in the 

 State, the plan also provided for 

 the delivery of up to 2.5 million 

 acre-feet per year of supplemental 

 freshwater inflow to Texas estuaries 

 between Galveston and Corpus Christi 

 through controlled releases from 



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