Public Affairs

This report on water management institutions and issues in Texas and elsewhere is the result of a policy research project conducted in 1985-86 under grants from the Texas Water Commission and from the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation. Senate Bill No. 249, enacted by the 69th Texas Legislature, established a Water District and River Authority Study Committee to study the major water authorities and districts in Texas "to determine if their powers and duties are appropriate for management of the state's water resources and to determine if the state's role relative to the creation and operation of those authorities should be changed." The policy research project was designed in conjunction with the Study Committee to provide research in support of its task. This report reflects detailed examination of reports, monographs and financial statements of eighteen Texas river authorities and water districts and of water management laws and institution in Arizona, California, and the Potomac River Basin. Participants in the project conducted extensive interviews with officials of the institutions covered in the report. The findings of the project are intended to provide information and insights which will aid the Study Committee in formulating its recommendations to the 70th Legislature on water management in Texas.