Texas Codes

Tex. Water Code § 11.046 (2026)

Return Surplus Water

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section TX-LEGstatutes.capitol.texas.gov Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Sec. 11.046. RETURN SURPLUS WATER. (a) A person who takes or diverts water from a watercourse or stream for the purposes authorized by this code shall conduct surplus water back to the watercourse or stream from which it was taken if the water can be returned by gravity flow and it is reasonably practicable to do so.

(b) In granting an application for a water right, the commission may include conditions in the water right providing for the return of surplus water, in a specific amount or percentage of water diverted, and the return point on a watercourse or stream as necessary to protect senior downstream permits, certified filings, or certificates of adjudication or to provide flows for instream uses or bays and estuaries.

(c) Except as specifically provided otherwise in the water right, water appropriated under a permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication may, prior to its release into a watercourse or stream, be beneficially used and reused by the holder of a permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication for the purposes and locations of use provided in the permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication. Once water has been diverted under a permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication and then returned to a watercourse or stream, however, it is considered surplus water and therefore subject to reservation for instream uses or beneficial inflows or to appropriation by others unless expressly provided otherwise in the permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication.

(d) Water appropriated under a permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication which is recirculated within a reservoir for cooling purposes shall not be considered to be surplus for purposes of this chapter.

Amended by Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 2207, ch. 870, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1977; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1010, Sec. 2.07, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 8 cases, 2003–2016 · leading case: City of San Marcos v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality, 128 S.W.3d 264 (Tex. App. 2004).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

City of San Marcos v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality, 128 S.W.3d 264 (Tex. App. 2004). “In concluding that the State’s right to use a watercourse is the same whether the flow of water is “natural” or “man-made” effluent, we noted that “[o]nce return flows are given back to a watercourse, they become part of the normal flow.”

R.E. Janes Gravel Co. v. the Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality , It's Exec. Dir., Richard A. Hyde, It's Commissioners Bryan Shaw & Toby Baker, & the City of Lubbock, 522 S.W.3d 506 (Tex. App. 2016). · cites it 2× “Tex. Water Code Ann. § 11.046 (c) (West 2008).”

Bradley B. Ware v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality (Tex. App. 2015). · cites it 4× “Under the agency's erroneous construction of Texas Water Code § 11.046(c), the Commission specifically and erroneously "reserves" state water that was available for appropriation for a subsequent pending applicant, rather than a senior water right holder.”

Bradley B. Ware v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality (Tex. App. 2015). · cites it 2× “Texas Water Code, §11.046 defines return flows, treated effluent wastewater discharges, and makes them available for appropriation as stated above.”

the City of San Marcos, Texas San Marcos River Found. & Dr. Jack Fairchild v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality (Tex. App. 2003). “at 360; see Tex. Water Code Ann. § 11.046 (c) (West 2000); see also Bieri , 247 S.”

the City of San Marcos, Texas San Marcos River Found. & Dr. Jack Fairchild v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality (Tex. App. 2004). “at 360; see Tex. Water Code Ann. § 11.046 (c) (West 2000); see also Bieri , 247 S.”

Bradley B. Ware v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality (Tex. App. 2015). “A copy of Tex. Water Code § 11.046 in its current form (unchanged from 1997) is at Appendix Tab D.”

R.E. Janes Gravel Co. v. Zachary Covar, Exec. Dir. of the Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality The Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality Its Commissioners Bryan Shaw, Carlos Rubenstein, Toby Baker & the City of Lubbock (Tex. App. 2015). “CR 416-17; see TEX. WATER CODE § 11.046(c) (codifying this very rule).”

— Tex. Water Code § 11.046(c) — 4 cases

R.E. Janes Gravel Co. v. the Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality , It's Exec. Dir., Richard A. Hyde, It's Commissioners Bryan Shaw & Toby Baker, & the City of Lubbock, 522 S.W.3d 506 (Tex. App. 2016). “Tex. Water Code Ann. § 11.046 (c) (West 2008).”

Bradley B. Ware v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality (Tex. App. 2015). “Under the agency's erroneous construction of Texas Water Code § 11.046(c), the Commission specifically and erroneously "reserves" state water that was available for appropriation for a subsequent pending applicant, rather than a senior water right holder.”

Bradley B. Ware v. Texas Comm'n on Env't Quality (Tex. App. 2015). “Texas Water Code, §11.046 defines return flows, treated effluent wastewater discharges, and makes them available for appropriation as stated above.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.