Exploring the Scope of Landowner Water Rights for Domestic and Livestock Purposes

This article examines the present scope of a Texas landowner’s domestic and livestock rights in light of the current versions of Chapter 11 of the Texas Water Code and Chapters 295 and 297 of the Texas Administrative Code. It begins by analyzing the history of a landowner’s domestic and livestock water rights and the history of water rights through different sovereignties, beginning with the Spanish regime up to Texas’s Adjudication Act in 1967. It addresses current statutory law, regulatory provisions, case law of the Texas Courts, and issues that have arisen at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Lastly, it covers potential impacts on domestic and livestock water rights in the future based upon the past and present states of water law as well as other water issues confronting the State of Texas today.