Water rights in Texas depend entirely on where the water sits. Surface water in rivers, streams, and lakes belongs to the state, and using it beyond basic household and livestock needs requires a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Groundwater beneath your land is your private property, and you can generally pump it without state permission. Rainwater you catch and runoff that hasn’t yet reached a creek are also yours. Before you build a pond, drill a well, or buy land for its water, the first question is which category your water falls into.
Surface Water Belongs to the State
Under Texas Water Code Chapter 11, water flowing through the state’s rivers, streams, lakes, and bays is public property. The state distributes the right to use it through prior appropriation: whoever got their water right first has the strongest claim during a shortage. Regulators call this “first in time, first in right,” and every permit carries a priority date that determines who gets water when there isn’t enough to go around.1Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Priority Calls: How to Claim Water Rights
If you want to divert surface water for irrigation, industrial, or municipal use, you need either a certificate of adjudication recognizing a pre-1967 right or a new permit from TCEQ. Each permit specifies the maximum volume in acre-feet and the exact point where water will be diverted.2Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Office of Water Exceed those terms and TCEQ can impose administrative penalties or revoke the right entirely.
What You Can Do Without a Permit
Not every use of water triggers the permitting system. Three big exceptions matter for most landowners.
Stock Tanks and Small Reservoirs
Texas Water Code Section 11.142 lets a landowner build a dam or reservoir on their own property that stores up to 200 acre-feet for domestic, livestock, and fish and wildlife purposes with no TCEQ approval. If the reservoir temporarily exceeds 200 acre-feet, the exemption still applies as long as the 12-month average stays at or below the cap.3Texas.Public” Law. Texas Water Code Section 11.142 Permit Exemptions This is often called the “stock tank” exemption.
The exemption does not cover commercial operations. Use the stored water to irrigate a cash crop or supply a business and you need a permit. A wildlife pond on property leased for hunting is not considered commercial under TCEQ rules.4Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. A Pond to Call My Own: Understanding Water Law in Texas
Rainwater
Texas actively encourages rainwater harvesting. A homeowners’ association cannot prohibit the installation of a rainwater system under the Texas Property Code. Counties and municipalities cannot deny a building permit solely because a property will collect rainwater, though they can require the system to meet minimum state standards. Rainwater harvesting equipment is exempt from state sales tax, and qualifying water conservation improvements can be partially or fully exempted from property taxes.5Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Is Rainwater Harvesting Illegal in Texas? There is no volume cap and no permit requirement.
Diffused Runoff
Rain or snowmelt that flows across your ground but hasn’t reached a creek, river, or other defined channel is called diffused surface water, and it belongs to you. You can capture any amount in tanks, ponds, or ditches without a permit.6Texas Groundwater Protection Committee. Water in Texas – Who Owns It? The legal status flips the moment that water reaches a natural channel: it becomes state water, and the permitting rules apply.
Texas also follows the common enemy doctrine on unwanted runoff. You can take reasonable steps to protect your land from flooding and drainage, including berms, grading, and ditches. You cannot divert floodwater onto a neighbor’s property through negligent construction. Courts have held landowners liable when poorly planned improvements redirected drainage onto adjacent parcels.
Groundwater Is Your Private Property
Groundwater follows completely different rules. Texas treats it as private property belonging to whoever owns the land above it, an approach the Texas Supreme Court adopted in 1904 in Houston & T.C. Ry. Co. v. East under what is known as the Rule of Capture. A landowner can pump water from beneath their property at will, and if that pumping drains a neighbor’s well, the neighbor generally has no legal claim unless the pumping was done maliciously or constitutes willful waste.7Texas Water Development Board. Chapter 1 History and Evolution of the Rule of Capture
The Texas Supreme Court strengthened groundwater owners’ position in the 2012 case Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, holding that landowners have a constitutionally protected property interest in the groundwater beneath their land. Government restrictions on pumping can amount to a “taking” that requires compensation.8FindLaw. Edwards Aquifer Authority v Day Regulators can set pumping limits, but they cannot strip groundwater rights without paying for them. Owners can also sever and sell their groundwater separately from the surface land, which has created an active water market across the state.
The only real check on the Rule of Capture comes from local Groundwater Conservation Districts, which impose spacing and production limits in much of the state.
Drilling a Private Well
Permitting rules for a private well depend on what the water is used for and how much the well produces. Under Texas Water Code Section 36.117, a well used solely for domestic or livestock purposes is exempt from the local Groundwater Conservation District’s permit requirements if two conditions are met: the well sits on a tract larger than 10 acres, and it cannot produce more than 25,000 gallons per day.9State of Texas. Texas Water Code 36-117 Exemptions Districts cannot restrict production from exempt wells. Wells that exceed either threshold need a district permit, and the spacing and production rules vary from district to district.
Only licensed drillers can install water wells. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation oversees driller and pump installer licensing; applicants need at least two years of experience under a licensed professional plus a state exam. After a well is completed, the driller must file a well construction report with TDLR and TCEQ within 60 days. If a well is later abandoned, a plugging report is due within 30 days. These reports are required even for exempt wells.
Construction standards also matter. TCEQ requires the space between the well casing and the borehole to be pressure-cemented from the shallowest water-producing zone to the surface, which prevents contamination from seeping down the outside of the casing.10Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Requirements for Drinking Water Wells PVC casing is prohibited within 150 feet of an underground petroleum or chemical storage tank.
Who Owns the Riverbed on Your Property
If a stream runs through your land, title to the bed depends on whether the stream is navigable. Texas uses two tests. A stream is “navigable in fact” if it can serve as a highway for trade or travel in its natural condition. A stream is “navigable by statute” if it maintains an average width of 30 feet from its mouth upstream.11State of Texas. Texas Natural Resources Code Section 21-001 – Definitions The width is measured between the firmly fixed land banks, not just the water’s edge at low flow.12Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Navigability
For navigable streams, the state owns the entire riverbed. Adjacent landowners hold title only to the gradient boundary or high-water mark. For non-navigable streams, the landowner on each side typically owns to the center of the streambed. The distinction affects where you can build structures, where the public can legally recreate, and whether a fence across a waterway is trespassing on state land.
What Happens During a Drought
Prior appropriation becomes most consequential during drought. When a stream doesn’t have enough water for everyone, a senior right holder can make a “priority call” by contacting the TCEQ regional office that covers their county. The caller must coordinate access to the diversion point with a regional investigator and submit documentation supporting the volume their permit authorizes.1Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Priority Calls: How to Claim Water Rights If the call is valid, junior right holders downstream can be ordered to stop diverting until the senior right is satisfied.
In four river basins TCEQ enforces water rights through permanent Watermaster programs: the Brazos, Concho River, Rio Grande, and South Texas Watermasters. Inside these basins, the Watermaster monitors streamflows, reservoir levels, and individual water use on an ongoing basis. Everywhere else, TCEQ regional offices handle enforcement on a complaint-driven basis.13Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Watermasters If a Texas city has ever placed you under mandatory outdoor watering restrictions, those came from a drought contingency plan the supplier must file with TCEQ.14Texas.Public.Law. Texas Water Code Section 11.039 Distribution of Water During Shortage
Selling or Transferring Water Rights
Both surface and groundwater rights are transferable, but the process is very different.
A surface water right is a state-issued permit, so changing ownership requires notifying TCEQ. Change-of-ownership requests can be submitted by email, and general water right applications need both an electronic copy and a hard copy sent to the TCEQ Central Office with the required payment.15Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Surface Water Rights and Availability Changing the purpose, place of use, or point of diversion on an existing permit requires a formal amendment, not just a change-of-ownership filing.
Groundwater transfers are private transactions because the water belongs to the landowner, not the state. A seller can sever the groundwater estate from the surface estate and convey it through a purchase and sale agreement, similar to selling mineral rights. These deals typically address due diligence on the aquifer’s productivity, title verification, compliance with the local Groundwater Conservation District’s rules, and whether the buyer will produce water on-site or transport it elsewhere. After Day, groundwater rights function as a marketable asset that can be appraised, financed, and insured.8FindLaw. Edwards Aquifer Authority v Day
Which Agency Regulates Your Water
Three entities shape what you can do with water on and under Texas land.
TCEQ is the primary regulator for surface water. It processes water rights permits, monitors water quality, enforces permit compliance, and runs the Watermaster programs.2Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Office of Water
Groundwater is managed locally through Groundwater Conservation Districts, which the legislature has designated as the state’s preferred method of groundwater management. Roughly 100 districts cover all or part of 181 of the state’s 254 counties.16Texas Groundwater Protection Committee. Texas Groundwater Protection Committee FAQs Each district sets its own rules for well spacing, production limits, and new well permits, and the rules in one district can look nothing like those next door. Check with your local district before drilling. Property owners in areas not covered by a district face fewer restrictions on pumping, but no local entity is monitoring aquifer depletion either.
The Texas Water Development Board collects statewide groundwater data, requires districts to develop management plans, and coordinates the state water plan that projects supply and demand decades into the future.17Texas Water Development Board. Groundwater Conservation Districts For anyone buying rural property in Texas, these three entities are the ones to know.