4X.3
Hon. H. A. Beckwith, Chairman
Board of Water Engltieers
Austin, Texas
Opinion NO. v-1060
Re: Procedure for designating
underground.waterreservoirs
Dear Sir: .~~~
pursuant
. to~Artlcle 7880+3_c,V.C.S./
Your request for an opinion presents ‘s&en
questions concerning the cqnstructilonof Subseotion C,
Article 7880:3c;V.C.S.,passed by the 51st Legislature,
Acts 1949, page 599, and providing a8 follows:
."
-Cf No petitibn for the~creationof
a Mstrlct to exer&se.the pOwera land
functions set forth 1n~'SubaectionB of
.thisSectidn 3c shall be consideredby
a CommissionersCourt OF the Board/es
the case may be;unless the.area to be
Included therein is coterminus.withan
undergroundwater resekvolr or,subdiii-
slon thereof whhichtheretoforehas been
defined and designatedby the Board as an
undergroundwater reservoir or subdivision
thereof. Such district, in conSorm$ng to
a defined reservolr or subdivision,may
lnclude.allor parts of a county or coun-
ties, municipal corporations.or other:po-
lltlcal subdivisions,Including but not
.llmltedto ,WaterControl atidImprovement
Districts.
"It shall be the duty OS the Board
from time to tlme.and in'any event up-
on application,bypetition In the manner
provided in Section 10 OS the Acts of
1925, Thirty-ninthLegislature,Chap-
ter 25, page 88, after notice and hear-,
ing as provided for In Se&ion 15 and
Section 21 (as amended), Acts of 1925,
480
Hon. H. A. Beckwith - Page 2 (v-1060)
Thirty-ninthLegislature,Chapter 25,
to designate undergroundwater reser-
voirs and subdivisionsthereof and
thereafteras future conditionsmay
require and factual data justify to
alter the boundaries thei%6f;provlded,
however, such alterationshall not.in-
validate the creation-ofany District
theretoforecreated wlth.the.powers
provided for In this Section 3c.” .'
For the sake of clarity, we repeat your
several questions before our answers thereto.
1. .&es the law provide for two separate
.S&&n B of the Act provides that underground
water 'contiervation~
dlsttilctsshall be created wider 'the
procedure~usedlr.,q?eat'ingwater Control and Improvement
districts. These latter districts.arkiorganlzed ,bypetl-
tion "signed by a ~majorityIn number of the holders OS
title to lands tbe'reln,and the 0wriers.of.amajority ln
value of the iands therein, a8 ~sht$qn
by tQe county t&x
rolls; provided, JS the number of au@ landowners therein
Is more than-fifty,.such petition shall_.be.sufSicientif
same is signed by.$a to consider on the petition to create an underground
water conservationdls'trlct and are not matters'to be
passed,on.lnconnectionwith the hearing to designate
an underground~reservolr;Thetonly p-ose the~,~Legle- I
lature could have had in providing for notice and
hearing as provided" in Articles 7880-15 and 7880-21,
must have been.wlth respect to the notZce provisions
of the two articles. Certainly, the hearing provl-
slons of Articles 7880-21 have no appllcatlon. It
follows, therefore, that the requirement for the $250
deposit has no appllcatlonto a petition to designate
an underground reservoir. This conclusion Is further
borne out by the,faot that the deposit obvlousLy could
.no,tbe collectedwhere hearing is held by the Board
without any formal applicationby petition.
The general fee statute under which the Board
,oieratesis Article 7532. 'It is our opinion that this
statute is applicablegenerally to whatever the Board
undertakesunder 7880-30. For example,,a fee is au-
thorized for the recording and certifyingof certain
Instruments,papers, maps etc. These fees should be
collected. Certain filing fees are prescribed by 7532.
;;; the most part, these do not appear to be appllca-
. However, a See of $25.00 Is prescribed for the
Hon. H. A. Beckwith - Page 8 (v-1060)
filing of each petition for the formation of a
district. This See should be collected for filing
petitions tomcreate undergroundwater conservation
districts. Since petitions to designate under-
ground reservoirsare not petitions for the forma-
tlon.oS districts, the fee la not due as to these.
We call attention to the fact that a general filing
fee of $1.00 Is required for each paper or lnstru-
ment, exhlblt'ormap, affidavit or anything else
authorizedand provided by law to be filed or which
ls‘flled. This See should be collectedwhether the
filing be made pursuant to designation,alteration
or creation. Article 7532 provides for certain use
fees. None of these have any applicationto 7880-3.
The usual.See of $25.OO,~asprescribed by 7532, should
accompany the Slllng of any applicationwhich Is re-
quired to be filed for the approval of bond Issues.
7. In the 'firstparagraph ~ofSubsectionC,
It Is required that the area designatedbe "cotermlnus
with an undergroundwater reservoir or subdivision
khereof." Is It perm$sslble to follow survey lines In
designatingan area thereunder or Is a survey necessary
:
$p order to deslgnate.anundergroundreservoir?
In order to reply to this question, It is
necessary to determlne the meaning of the word "coter-
minus." Webster shows this word to be spelled coterml-
nous, and.gives only Its blologlcal~definition,as "of
g=oups.of OrganlamS, coextensive." ~Websterrefers for
further definition to the word.co@ermlnous, which he
defines as having a common boundary; having the same
bounds or limits; coextens~lveIn space, time, or range;
having the same ending. Prom this, we~take It that the
undergroundreservoir Is Intended to have, as clearly as
engineeringskill can produce ~theresult;the same boun-
daries on the surface as'are occupied by the reservoir
below surface, Itls unlikely that this result could be
&ached by following survey lines. Where It can be
reached,,it is permlsslble,.but~nototherwise. Wbe%her
an actual survey'on the ground ls:requlred,we leave for
your determlnatlon.'~But if your present maps show un-
derground reservoirs In relation to surface grants,~lt
would seem that a satisfactoryperimeter description
Hon. H. A. Be&with - Page 9 (V-1060)
of the reservoir could be worked out from the maps
you now have available.
Section C, Article 7880-3c, pro-
vides separate procedures for designating
undergroundwater reservoirs and creating
undergroundwater conservationdistricts
and requires notice and hearing as a con-
.- dltlon preoedent to those designations
and alterationsof reservoir boundaries
anticipatedby the Act. The fees to be
collected by the Board of Water Engineers
under the Act are describedand the term
cotermlnus,as used In Section C, Is de-
fined.
Yours very truly
PRICE DARIBL
Attorney General
By a&
H. D. Pruett, ir.'
Assistant
APPROVED:
Joe R. Greenhill
First Assistant