Relating to the joint planning of desired future conditions in groundwater management areas.
ModeratePlan for compliance
Low Cost
Effective:2025-09-01
Enforcing Agencies
Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) • Texas Water Development Board (TWDB)
01
Compliance Analysis
Key implementation requirements and action items for compliance with this legislation
Implementation Timeline
Effective Date: September 1, 2025
Compliance Deadline: Compliance is tied to your specific Groundwater Management Area's (GMA) next 5-year joint planning cycle. You must engage immediately when your GMA begins drafting its next Desired Future Conditions (DFCs).
Agency Rulemaking: The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) will not issue broad new rules, but local GCDs must amend their Management Plans to include DFC tracking and performance history. Expect local rulemaking to define "interim values" to occur continuously over the next 1-3 years depending on the district's cycle.
Immediate Action Plan
Identify Your Cycle: Determine where your local Groundwater Management Area is in its 5-year planning cycle immediately.
Define Your Interim Needs: Calculate your business's water needs for the next 10 years and submit this data to the GCD *before* they set the interim values.
Audit Lease Agreements: Review all groundwater leases for payment adjustment language regarding regulatory curtailment.
Establish a Baseline: Document your current aquifer levels independently to challenge potential future claims of "district-wide failure" based on faulty GCD modeling.
Operational Changes Required
Contracts
Water Rights Leases: Immediately amend leases to include a Regulatory Adjustment Clause. If a GCD’s new "interim value" report triggers a permit reduction, your lease payments should automatically prorate downward.
Supply Agreements: Update Force Majeure clauses in water supply contracts. Explicitly list "curtailments resulting from failure to meet Desired Future Conditions or Interim Values" as a qualifying event to shield you from breach of contract liability.
Real Estate Acquisitions: Update due diligence checklists. You must now review the specific GCD’s most recent "Explanatory Report" and performance history before acquiring land dependent on groundwater.
Hiring/Training
Technical Consultants: Your hydrogeologists or engineering consultants must be directed to monitor and model the proposed "interim values" during the joint planning process, not just the 50-year endpoint.
Legal/Compliance: Staff must attend GMA joint planning meetings. The law now mandates a review of the "effectiveness" of conservation measures; silence during these meetings will be interpreted as consent to stricter regulations.
Reporting & Record-Keeping
Internal Auditing: While the GCD files the state report, you must maintain an internal comparison of your actual metered usage against the District’s "modeled available groundwater."
Plain Language Defense: Prepare a "plain language" summary of your own conservation efforts. You will need this to counter the GCD’s mandatory plain language report if they attempt to shift the blame for aquifer depletion onto industrial users.
Fees & Costs
Direct Costs: No statutory fee increases are included in the bill.
Indirect Risks: If a GCD reports failure to meet interim values, anticipate the introduction of "sustainability fees" or "export fees" in subsequent local rulemaking to fund aggressive conservation efforts.
Strategic Ambiguities & Considerations
Consequences of Failure: The statute mandates setting and reporting on "interim values" but is silent on the penalty for missing them. We anticipate GCDs will use a missed benchmark as legal justification for emergency rulemaking and permit cuts.
"Effectiveness" Definition: The bill requires reviewing the "effectiveness" of conservation measures without defining the term. This gives GCDs broad discretion to declare voluntary measures "ineffective" and pivot to mandatory, command-and-control regulations without legislative intervention.
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Information presented is for general knowledge only and is provided without warranty, express or implied. Consult qualified government affairs professionals and legal counsel before making compliance decisions.
The 87th Texas Legislature's House Natural Resources Committee's Interim Report made recommendations regarding the tracking and achievement of the desired future condition (DFC) planning goals for aquifers that are developed in the joint planning process, and adopted by groundwater conservation districts. H.B. 2078 seeks to address the issue of how districts demonstrate that their present-day aquifer management activities are on track to achieve the DFCs, which are established for approximately 50 years into the future, by requiring districts to address DFC tracking and achievement in their management plans, to discuss such a plan and achievement at least once each five-year cycle of the joint planning process, to include additional information in the DFC explanatory report regarding changes in DFC from one five-year cycle to another and regarding DFC achievement performance, and to adopt interim values for DFCs at certain intervals within the 50-year joint planning period.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
H.B. 2078 amends the Water Code to require a groundwater conservation district to include in its management plan an explanation in plain language of how the district is monitoring and tracking the achievement of the district's applicable desired future conditions and how the district has performed in achieving those conditions over the preceding five-year joint planning period.
H.B. 2078, with respect to the annual joint planning of a management area by district representatives and the review of management plans, specifies that such review includes the management plans of each district in the management area and provides that the frequency of such review is not less than once during each applicable five-year planning period. The bill replaces the requirement for the districts, in reviewing management plans, to consider the degree to which each management plan achieves the desired future conditions established during the joint planning process with a requirement that the districts consider in that review the degree to which each district is achieving those established future conditions through the implementation of the district's management plan and rules.
H.B. 2078 includes the following among the required contents of the desired future conditions explanatory report produced by district representatives:
·an explanation in plain language of why a desired future condition adopted for an aquifer was changed if the desired future condition is different from the desired future condition adopted for the aquifer over the preceding five-year joint planning period; and
·a summary of how each district is performing in achieving the desired future conditions.
H.B. 2078 requires the districts and district representatives to do the following:
·adopt desired future conditions for each 50-year planning period identified by the Texas Water Development Board executive administrator for the preparation of state and regional water plans; and
·identify interim values for those adopted conditions for time periods not to exceed 10 years solely to assist the districts in monitoring interim progress in achieving the desired future conditions adopted for the 50-year planning period.
The bill authorizes the districts and district representatives to adopt desired future conditions for other time periods.
EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.
HB 2078 fundamentally shifts groundwater regulation from long-term modeling to short-term accountability. Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) must now adopt "interim values" (10-year benchmarks) and publicly report their success or failure in meeting them. This impacts all high-volume water permit holders (agriculture, industrial, utilities) by creating a transparent metric that, if missed, will likely trigger immediate permit curtailments or regulatory takings.
Q
Who authored HB2078?
HB2078 was authored by Texas Representative Stan Gerdes during the Regular Session.
Q
When was HB2078 signed into law?
HB2078 was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 20, 2025.
Q
Which agencies enforce HB2078?
HB2078 is enforced by Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) and Texas Water Development Board (TWDB).
Q
How urgent is compliance with HB2078?
The compliance urgency for HB2078 is rated as "moderate". Businesses and organizations should review the requirements and timeline to ensure timely compliance.
Q
What is the cost impact of HB2078?
The cost impact of HB2078 is estimated as "low". This may vary based on industry and implementation requirements.
Q
What topics does HB2078 address?
HB2078 addresses topics including environment, environment--water, special districts & authorities, special districts & authorities--groundwater conserve dist. and special districts & authorities--water & utility.
Legislative data provided by LegiScanLast updated: November 25, 2025
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