In this chapter:
(1) “District” means any district or authority created under § 52, Article III, or § 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, that has the authority to regulate the spacing of water wells, the production from water wells, or both.
(2) “Commission” means the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
(3) “Executive director” means the executive director of the commission.
(4) “Executive administrator” means the executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board.
(4-a) “Federal conservation program” means the Conservation Reserve Program of the United States Department of Agriculture, or any successor program.
(5) “Groundwater” means water percolating below the surface of the earth.
(6) “Groundwater reservoir” means a specific subsurface water-bearing reservoir having ascertainable boundaries containing groundwater.
(7) “Subdivision of a groundwater reservoir” means a definable part of a groundwater reservoir in which the groundwater supply will not be appreciably affected by withdrawing water from any other part of the reservoir, as indicated by known geological and hydrological conditions and relationships and on foreseeable economic development at the time the subdivision is designated or altered.
(8) “Waste” means any one or more of the following:
(A) withdrawal of groundwater from a groundwater reservoir at a rate and in an amount that causes or threatens to cause intrusion into the reservoir of water unsuitable for agricultural, gardening, domestic, or stock raising purposes;
(B) the flowing or producing of wells from a groundwater reservoir if the water produced is not used for a beneficial purpose;
(C) escape of groundwater from a groundwater reservoir to any other reservoir or geologic strata that does not contain groundwater;
(D) pollution or harmful alteration of groundwater in a groundwater reservoir by saltwater or by other deleterious matter admitted from another stratum or from the surface of the ground;
(E) willfully or negligently causing, suffering, or allowing groundwater to escape into any river, creek, natural watercourse, depression, lake, reservoir, drain, sewer, street, highway, road, or road ditch, or onto any land other than that of the owner of the well unless such discharge is authorized by permit, rule, or order issued by the commission under Chapter 26;
(F) groundwater pumped for irrigation that escapes as irrigation tailwater onto land other than that of the owner of the well unless permission has been granted by the occupant of the land receiving the discharge; or
(G) for water produced from an artesian well, “waste” also has the meaning assigned by § 11.205.
(9) “Use for a beneficial purpose” means use for:
(A) agricultural, gardening, domestic, stock raising, municipal, mining, manufacturing, industrial, commercial, recreational, or pleasure purposes;
(B) exploring for, producing, handling, or treating oil, gas, sulphur, or other minerals; or
(C) any other purpose that is useful and beneficial to the user.
(10) “Subsidence” means the lowering in elevation of the land surface caused by withdrawal of groundwater.
(11) “Board” means the board of directors of a district.
(12) “Director” means a member of a board.
(13) “Management area” means an area designated and delineated by the Texas Water Development Board under Chapter 35 as an area suitable for management of groundwater resources.
(14) “Priority groundwater management area” means an area designated and delineated by the commission under Chapter 35 as an area experiencing or expected to experience critical groundwater problems.
(15) “Political subdivision” means a county, municipality, or other body politic or corporate of the state, including a district or authority created under § 52, Article III, or § 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, a state agency, or a nonprofit water supply corporation created under Chapter 67.
(16) “Loan fund” means the groundwater conservation district loan assistance fund created under § 36.371.
(17) Repealed by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 970, Sec. 18, eff. September 1, 2005.
(18) “Public water supply well” means, for purposes of a district governed by this chapter, a well that produces the majority of its water for use by a public water system.
(19) “Agriculture” means any of the following activities:
(A) cultivating the soil to produce crops for human food, animal feed, or planting seed or for the production of fibers;
(B) the practice of floriculture, viticulture, silviculture, and horticulture, including the cultivation of plants in containers or nonsoil media, by a nursery grower;
(C) raising, feeding, or keeping animals for breeding purposes or for the production of food or fiber, leather, pelts, or other tangible products having a commercial value;
(D) planting cover crops, including cover crops cultivated for transplantation, or leaving land idle for the purpose of participating in any governmental program or normal crop or livestock rotation procedure;
(E) wildlife management; and
(F) raising or keeping equine animals.
(20) “Agricultural use” means any use or activity involving agriculture, including irrigation.
(21) “Conjunctive use” means the combined use of groundwater and surface water sources that optimizes the beneficial characteristics of each source.
(22) “Nursery grower” means a person who grows more than 50 percent of the products that the person either sells or leases, regardless of the variety sold, leased, or grown. For the purpose of this definition, “grow” means the actual cultivation or propagation of the product beyond the mere holding or maintaining of the item prior to sale or lease and typically includes activities associated with the production or multiplying of stock such as the development of new plants from cuttings, grafts, plugs, or seedlings.
(23) “River basin” means a river or coastal basin designated as a river basin by the board under § 16.051. The term does not include waters of the bays or arms originating in the Gulf of Mexico.
(24) “Total aquifer storage” means the total calculated volume of groundwater that an aquifer is capable of producing.
(25) “Modeled available groundwater” means the amount of water that the executive administrator determines may be produced on an average annual basis to achieve a desired future condition established under § 36.108.
(26) “Recharge” means the amount of water that infiltrates to the water table of an aquifer.
(27) “Inflows” means the amount of water that flows into an aquifer from another formation.
(28) “Discharge” means the amount of water that leaves an aquifer by natural or artificial means.
(29) “Evidence of historic or existing use” means evidence that is material and relevant to a determination of the amount of groundwater beneficially used without waste by a permit applicant during the relevant time period set by district rule that regulates groundwater based on historic use. Evidence in the form of oral or written testimony shall be subject to cross-examination. The Texas Rules of Evidence govern the admissibility and introduction of evidence of historic or existing use, except that evidence not admissible under the Texas Rules of Evidence may be admitted if it is of the type commonly relied upon by reasonably prudent persons in the conduct of their affairs.
(30) “Desired future condition” means a quantitative description, adopted in accordance with § 36.108, of the desired condition of the groundwater resources in a management area at one or more specified future times.
(31) “Operating permit” means any permit issued by the district for the operation of or production from a well, including a permit to drill or complete a well if the district does not require a separate permit for the drilling or completion of a well.