Recent Developments

Cummins v. Travis County Water Control and Improvement Dist. No. 17,175 S.W.3d 34 (Tex.App. — Austin 2005). The Texas Supreme Court denied Cummins’ petition for review on April 21, 2006. The Cummins were seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision that they did not have littoral or riparian rights to use Lake Travis despite their ownership of land along the shore of the Lake. The court reasoned that the Cummins’ title failed to originate prior to 1895, and the waters filling that lake are not “normal flow,” but are instead floodwaters.

Texas Attorney General Opinion Requests

RQ-0468-GA
Whether a “water rights fee” imposed by the Public Utilities Board of
the City of Brownsville is an impermissible “impact fee.”
Go to: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/requests_ga/RQ0468GA.pdf

RQ-0469-GA
Authority of the Edwards Aquifer Authority to reduce the groundwater
withdrawal rights of permit holders. Go to:
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/requests_ga/RQ0469GA.pdf