Water Rights for Texas Estuaries

Estuaries, representing the transition zone between freshwater and marine ecosystems, are among our most productive natural systems. More than half are located along the Gulf of Mexico and the southeast Atlantic coast. This article examines the legal mechanisms that exist in Texas to allocate freshwater for estuarine inflows. Texas' experience with inflow protection raises policy and legal issues important to other coastal states-namely, what legal mechanisms are available under appropriate water law to protect freshwater inflows.