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Terms Used In Texas Water Code 26.023

  • Commission: means the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Effects: includes all personal property and all interest in that property. See Texas Government Code 312.011
  • Pollution: means the alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological quality of, or the contamination of, any water in the state that renders the water 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. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Rule: includes regulation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • water in the state: means groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, wetlands, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico, inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state. See Texas Water Code 26.001

The commission by rule shall set water quality standards for the water in the state and may amend the standards from time to time. The commission has the sole and exclusive authority to set water quality standards for all water in the state. The commission shall consider the existence and effects of nonpoint source pollution, toxic materials, and nutrient loading in developing water quality standards and related waste load models for water quality. The commission shall develop standards based on all quality assured data obtained by the commission, including the local watershed and river basin database described by § 26.0135(c)(2). In this section, “quality assured data” has the meaning assigned by § 26.0135(i).