the coastal component of the proposed 

 Texas Water System. Conceptually, 

 the system was to conserve and con- 

 trol water from basins of surplus to 

 areas of need throughout the State. 

 Although the Texas Water Plan tenta- 

 tively provided for supplemental 

 freshwater inflow on an annual basis, 

 it was clearly recognized that the 

 quantity specified was a preliminary 

 estimate based on the best available 

 information at the time. Further- 

 more, the optimum seasonal and 

 spatial distribution of these pro- 

 posed supplemental inflows could not 

 be determined at that time because of 

 insufficient ecological knowledge 

 concerning these large-scale eco- 

 systems and their interlocking com- 

 ponents . 



The acute need for comprehensive 

 estuarine data bases and reliable set 

 of technical criteria for defining 

 the responses of the ecosystems to 

 variable freshwater inflow regimes 

 was obvious in order to analytically 

 solve the problem. Although several 

 limited programs were underway, they 

 were largely independent of one 

 another and none of the programs were 

 truly comprehensive. In fact, in 

 some Texas estuaries virtually no 

 data had been collected. Therefore, 

 the Texas Water Development Board, in 

 cooperation with the U.S. Geological 

 Survey, initiated a reconnaissance- 

 level study program during 1967. 

 This Bays and Estuaries Program was 

 progressively expanded through the 

 following years, particularly after 

 the additional legislative recogni- 

 tion and funding provided through 

 enactment of Senate Bill 137 by the 

 64th Texas Legislature in 1975. Un- 

 der the mandate of this State law, 

 the executive director of the depart- 

 ment must "carry out comprehensive 

 studies of the effects of freshwater 

 inflows upon the bays and estuaries 

 of Texas, which studies shall include 

 the development of methods of pro- 



viding and maintaining the ecological 

 environment thereof suitable to their 

 living marine resources" (Section 

 16.058, Texas Water Code). Senate 

 Bill 137 also amended State public 

 policy, declaring "it is the public 

 policy of the state to provide for 

 the conservation and development of 

 the state's natural resources, 

 including ...the maintenance of a 

 proper ecological environment of the 

 bays and estuaries of Texas and the 

 health of related living marine re- 

 sources" (Section 1.003, Texas Water 

 Code). Further, the law directs "in 

 its consideration of an application 

 for a permit to store, take, or 

 divert water, the [Texas Water] 

 commission shall assess the effects, 

 if any, of the issuance of the permit 

 on the bays and estuaries of Texas" 

 (Section 11.147, Texas Water Code). 



The principal problems that have 

 affected this assessment stem from 

 the previously incomplete analysis of 

 the freshwater inflow needs of Texas 

 estuaries, and from the fact that the 

 adjudication of surface water rights 

 for each Texas river basin is a com- 

 plex and extremely lengthy legal 

 procedure. Required by the Texas 

 Water Rights Adjudication Act of 1967 

 (Section 11.301, Texas Water Code), 

 the adjudication process was estab- 

 lished to assure each surface water 

 claimant all of the due process and 

 constitutional protection to which 

 each is entitled, and to provide for 

 the "administration of water rights 

 to the end that the surface water 

 resources of the state may be put to 

 their greatest beneficial use" (Sec- 

 tion 11.302, Texas Water Code). As 

 of August 31, 1980 the adjudication 

 program was about 72 percent complete 

 (5,989 parties adjudicated of a total 

 8,336 parties statewide). Although 

 the process has been accelerated in 

 recent years, it may still be several 

 years before adjudication of claims 

 in all Texas river basins is 



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