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Rule 1

PCCD Groundwater and Protection Rules
Rule 1: Definitions

1.1       Except, as otherwise provided in these Rules, the definitions contained in Chapter 36, Texas Water Code, as amended from time-to-time, shall apply to these Rules. 

1.2       The following words and terms, when used in these Rules, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

“Abandoned Well or Deteriorated Well” means a well, or Borehole, the condition of which is causing pollution of groundwater in the District.  The definition includes a well which is or is not in use, or which contains no pumping equipment (open or uncovered well), and a well or Borehole which is not in compliance with applicable law, including the Rules and Regulations of the District, the Texas Water Well Driller’s Act, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Texas Railroad Commission or any other state or federal agency or political subdivision having jurisdiction, if presumed to be an abandoned or deteriorated well.

“Acceptable decline rate” means the percentage of the saturated thickness established by the Board pursuant to these Rules that may be removed from a groundwater reservoir annually, and will encourage conservation and extend its longevity.

“Acre-foot” means one acre-foot of groundwater which is equal to 325,857 gallons of water, or the amount of water necessary to cover one surface acre of land with the foot of water.

“Allowable decline” means an amount of water, expressed in acre-feet, that is calculated by multiplying the net saturated thickness of the previous year by the acceptable decline rate set by the Board. 

 “Aquifer” means a formation, or group of saturated geologic formations, capable of storing and yielding fresh water in usable quantities.

“Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project” or “ASR Project” means a well or wells, and any appurtenant facilities, used for the treatment, injection, storage and production of water within the boundaries of the District contemplated by Subchapter D, Chapter 11, Texas Water Code.

“Aquifer Storage and Recovery Well” and “ASR Well” means a well designated or constructed to be used to inject into storage or recover from storage water from an aquifer within the District as part of an ASR Project.

“Authorized Well Site” means:

1.         The location of a proposed well as identified in an application duly filed with the District, until such application is denied, canceled, or expires; or

2.         The location of a proposed as authorized by a permit issued by the District (an authorized well site is not a permit to drill); or

3.         Any well producing water within the District from the Edwards (Trinity) Limestone; Midway and Navarro groups, Wilcox group, Carrizo sands, Leona Formation or Recent Alluvium deposits aquifers in existence at the time the District Rules were first adopted; provided, however that it does not include wells producing from the Edwards sands, formation or aquifer regulated by either the Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District or the Edwards Underground Water District on January 1, 1989;

4.         A well capable of producing in excess of 25,000 gallons of water per day in existence either (i) at the time the District Rules were adopted, or (ii) at the time the area was annexed into the District, which was producing water from the Edwards (Trinity) Limestone, Midway and Navarro groups, Wilcox group, Carrizo Sands, Leona Formation or Recent Alluvium Deposit aquifers, and is not considered to be an abandoned well or deteriorated well; or

5.         A well drilled after the District’s Rules were adopted, or after the area was annexed into the District, and in which a properly completed registration and Log of Well is on file in the District office and such well has not been “abandoned” by the well owner.

6.         The location of any Exempt Well.

“Beneficial purpose” or “Beneficial use” means the use of an amount of water in a non-wasteful manner contemplated by Section 36.001(a), Texas Water Code.

“Board” means the governing body of the District as prescribed by the District’s enabling legislation.

“Borehole” means an execution drilled to a depth sufficient to penetrate water-bearing sand.

“Chemigation” means a process whereby pesticides, fertilizers or other chemicals, or effluent from animal or human wastes are added to irrigation water applied to land or crops, or both for beneficial purposes, through an irrigation distribution system.

“Commission” means the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or the “TCEQ,” and any successor agency.

“District” means the Plum Creek Conservation District or PCCD, created by special legislative enactment formerly codified as Article 8980-126, Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. 

“District Headquarters” means the District’s principal place of business located in the County Annex Building, Caldwell County, Texas, 1400 FM 20, P.O. Box 328, Lockhart, Texas 78644, phone 512-398-2383.

“Domestic Use” means the use of water by an individual or a household to support domestic activity.  Such use may include water for drinking, washing, or culinary purposes; for irrigation of lawns, or of a family garden and/or orchard; for watering of domestic animals; and for non-commercial water recreation including aquatic and wildlife enjoyment.  Domestic use does not include water used to support activities for which consideration is given, bartered or received, or for which the product of the activity is bartered or sold.

“Easy Access” means access is not obstructed by equipment and the fitting(s) can be removed and replaced with a minimum of tools and/or effort, and without risk of breakage of any attached parts.

“Exempt Well” means a well used solely for domestic use, or for providing water for livestock or poultry on a tract of land larger than ten acres, that is either drilled, completed, or equipped so that it is incapable of producing more than 25,000 gallons of groundwater a day, and has been equipped with a measuring device, e.g., a totalizer water meter capable of measuring the water produced from the well capable of assuring that not more than 25,000 gallons per day is actually produced.

“Existing Well” means a well that was drilled prior to December 31, 2003.

“Flapper” means the clapper, closing, or checking device within the body of the check valve.

“Foreign substance” means any element or combination of elements in excess of that naturally occurring in the groundwater, including re-used or re-claimed water and tailwater, and may also include instances where open-ditch water is treated when a pump discharge pipe is submerged in the ditch.

“GPD” means gallons per day.

“Groundwater” means water percolating below the surface of the earth.

“Groundwater Reservoir” means a specific subsurface water-bearing reservoir having ascertainable boundaries containing groundwater.

“Historic Use” means the pumping of groundwater from a well prior to  December 31, 2003.

“Injection well” means an artificial excavation or opening in the ground made by digging, boring, drilling, jetting, driving, or some other method, and used to inject, transit or dispose of water, or any other fluid, into a water bearing subsurface stratum, regulated pursuant to Chapter 27, Texas Water Code subject to the jurisdiction of either the Texas Commission on Environmental  Quality and/or the Texas Railroad Commission.

water and chemicals is drawn and applied to land. The term does not include any hand held hose sprayer or other similar device which is constructed so that an interruption in water flow automatically prevents any backflow to the water source.

“Livestock Use” means the use of water for the open-range watering of non-commercial livestock, including exotic livestock, game animals or fur-bearing animals.  For purposes of this definition, the terms “livestock” and “exotic livestock” are to be used as defined in Section 142.001 of the Agriculture Code, and the terms game animals and fur-bearing animals are to be used as defined in Sections 63.001 and 71.001, respectively, of the Parks and Wildlife Code.

“Maximum Historic Use” means the maximum amount of groundwater pumped from a well during any consecutive twelve month period ending prior to December 31, 2003.

“Monitoring well” means a well designated or constructed to measure, or monitor, either the quality, or quantity or movement, of substances, elements, chemicals or fluids beneath the surface of the ground. The term does not include any monitoring well which is used in conjunction with the production of oil, gas or any other minerals.

“Owner” means, and includes, any person or other entity, public or private, that has the right to produce groundwater either by ownership, contract, lease, easement or any other estate in the land or water.

“Person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, organization, government, government subdivision or agency, business trust, estate or any other legal entity or association.

“Pollution” means the alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological quality of, or the contamination of, groundwater in the District that renders the groundwater harmful, detrimental, or injurious to humans, animal life, vegetation, or property or to public health, safety or welfare, or impairs the usefulness or the public enjoyment of the water for any lawful or reasonable purpose.

“Railroad Commission” means the Texas Railroad Commission.

“Re-equip” means to replace any portion of the water producing equipment in a well.

“Recharge Well” means a well, including an “Aquifer Storage and Recovery Well” and “ASR Well”, used to allow or cause water to flow out of the well into the aquifer either under a gravity head or a head maintained by an injection pump in order to replenish the groundwater.

“Rework” means any alteration of a well whether accomplished by mechanical or chemical means.

“Saturated thickness” means the vertical distance between the water table and the base of the groundwater reservoir.

“TCEQ” means the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

“Transportation Facility” means any system used for transporting groundwater produced from a well(s) located, or to be located, within the District, including a pipeline, channel, ditch. watercourse, or other natural or artificial facilities, or any combination of such facilities.

“Underground Water” means groundwater.

“Waste” means any one, or more, of the following:

1.         Withdrawal of groundwater from a groundwater reservoir at a rate, and in an amount, that causes, or threatens to cause, intrusion into the reservoir of water unsuitable for beneficial purposes;

2.         The flowing, or producing, of a well(s) from a groundwater reservoir if the water produced is not used for a beneficial purpose;

3.         The escape of groundwater from a groundwater reservoir to any other reservoir or geologic strata that does not contain groundwater, as used herein, the term “escape” does not include water intentionally transferred from a groundwater reservoir into another groundwater reservoir for beneficial use;

4.         Pollution or harmful alteration of groundwater in a groundwater reservoir by saltwater or by other deleterious matter admitted from another stratum or from the surface of the ground;

5.         Willfully or negligently causing, suffering or allowing groundwater to escape into any river, creek, natural watercourse, depression, lake, reservoir, drain, sewer, street, highway, road or road ditch, or onto any land other than that of the owner of the well for a non-beneficial purpose, unless the same is authorized by a permit, rule or order issued by the District, or by the Commission under either Chapter 11 or 26 of the Texas Water Code;

6.         Groundwater pumped for irrigation that is not contained in tailwater retention ponds and escapes as irrigation tailwater onto land, other than that of the owner of the well(s), unless permission has been granted by the occupant of the land receiving the tailwater, and the same is used for a beneficial purpose; or

7.         For water produced from an artesian well “waste,” has the meaning assigned by Section 11.205 of the Texas Water Code.

“Water” means groundwater or underground water.

“Water Rights” or “Groundwater Rights” means a defined number of acre-feet of ground-water authorized to be produced from a tract of land which a person has acquired a permit to produce on an annual basis subject to the Rules of this District.

“Water Well” means any artificial excavation constructed for the purpose of exploring for, or producing, groundwater. The term, however, does not include any test or blast holes in quarries or mines, or any well(s) or excavation(s) for the purpose of exploring for, or producing oil, gas or any other minerals, unless the hole(s) is used to produce groundwater, or any injection well regulated by the Railroad Commission.

“Well” means a water well(s), injection well(s), recharge well(s), dewatering well(s) or monitoring well(s).

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