The Application of Water Market Doctrines in Texas

The State of Texas is the U.S.’s second largest state in terms of land area and it has recently become the second largest state in terms of population (xcU.S. Department of Commerce, 1995). It is hydrologically diverse and, at over 692,000 km2, it is larger than some countries. As a coastal state, some river basins lie fully within the State while other rivers originate in upstream states. Precipitation at Texas’s arid western tip averages 20 cm annually (xcTexas Department of Water Resources, 1984). There, large expanses of land may be too parched to provide forage for livestock, groundwater availability is meager, and the few available surface water supplies are heavily used. Contrarily, at the humid southeastern edge of the State, precipitation averages 142 cm annually (xcTexas Department of Water Resources, 1984). There, water is abundant, rice is an important crop, and flooding is a periodic problem.