Question : My comment, I should 

 probably address to Ken Collins 

 also: One of the problems we are 

 up against--I work in California 

 and I realize there are similar 

 problems in Texas--is that a lot of 

 times by the time information is 

 available, the resource is over al- 

 located and there doesn't seem to 

 be a mechanism to provide for the 

 kind of flexibility that is needed, 

 particularly when we are dealing 

 with a biological system that we 

 don't have adequate information 

 for. If it takes 25 years of stud- 

 ies, by the time those 25 years 

 are gone, we have allocated what- 

 ever water we might have needed or 

 that we determine that we need. 

 I'm wondering whether you foresee 

 this? I think Texas may be on the 

 right track, at least coming up 

 with some interim guidelines. I'm 

 sure that you maybe don't look at the 

 studies that you have generated in 

 a four-year period as the final 

 answer and that there is enough 

 flexibility left in the system in 

 case you are wrong and that you can 

 generate some water into the sys- 

 tem. I think it is going to in- 

 volve some ground water management 

 which neither California nor Texas 

 have and that is a toughie. 



Answer: You are asking how do 

 we turn the clock back and suggest- 

 ing ground water management is a 

 way. I'm not sure that is going to 

 help in some cases depending upon 

 what you mean by ground water man- 

 agement. Among the things that we 

 need to do in many of our ground 

 water cases is to get more recharge 

 which means diverting even more of 

 our surface water in a short run in- 

 to ground water aquifers or shifting 

 the load off declining aquifers in 

 this growing economy onto more sur- 

 face water, which is placing more 

 competition on the surface water 

 case. In our water rights justfica- 



tion program, we are adjudicating to 

 the extent that water has not been 

 used and rights are cancelled. That 

 may free up some water. We don't 

 know of cases in which we are pre- 

 sently beyond the point where we 

 have observed that we would need to 

 go back and cancel rights in addi- 

 tion to that. 



Question : I know that it is 

 a basic problem in California water 

 rights law also it is sort of a 

 user-lose situation and it encour- 

 ages agricultural users, in parti- 

 cular, to use their water right be- 

 cause if they don't they lose the 

 right to use the water. There has 

 to be a change in that. 



Answer : You are raising a 

 question about an institution with 

 which I happen to agree and, in that 

 respect, that is how to bargain with 

 present water rights holders. In 

 our adjudication program, those 

 rights that cannot be demonstrated 

 to have been used, some are being 

 canceled. Those that have not dem- 

 onstrated having been used for a 

 period of ten years are being can- 

 celled. Our water commission is 

 also writing permits for major pro- 

 jects with requirements for recent 

 years flow through and releases and 

 return flows, in one particular 

 case, into Corpus Christi Bay; a 

 minimum quantity combination of re- 

 turn flows and/or unused water 

 right. The commission is also writ- 

 ing term permits. 



Question : As Jerry has ex- 

 pressed in California we have been 

 fortunate to have at least water 

 protection through legal water pro- 

 tection plans in the bay delta sys- 

 tem. I was wondering if Texas is 

 planning to set specific water qual- 

 ity standards with flow standards 

 included for the protection of your 

 estuaries sometime in the future. 



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