The Oil Drum | Houston ASPO Day 2 part 2

32 comments on Houston ASPO Day 2 part 2

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

| Show without comments | PDF version

Nate Hagens on October 22, 2007 - 11:25am

Regarding T. Boones comments, how does one 'own' water in the Oglala aquifer?

And just like oil and gas deplete, so do water and soil. That aquifer is a giant lake underground that has gradually depleted since it was harnessed during the dust bowl. Soil in that area used to have over 10 feet! of topsoil - now its down to 1 foot in many areas. I just finished a book - "The Worst Hard Time" about the american Dust Bowl in the 1930s - amazing weather events in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas panhandle not seen since..

But back to my question - can one 'buy' water rights as an individual in these areas??

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Prof. Goose on October 22, 2007 - 11:27am

surface water is owned by the state, ground water is owned (in TX) by the person who owns the property mineral rights style...at least that's how he said it.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

oilmanbob on October 23, 2007 - 8:54am

That's correct, water rights can be severed just like oil and gas. However, in some areas there are water conservation districts that regulate the amount withrawn by from a given reservoir by the users and also the water quality in the aquifer recharge zone. Last year I worked quite a bit in Hudspeth County, Texas , about 70 to 100 mikles due east of El Paso. The city of El Paso would pay $3500 per acre for established water rights in the Victorio Peak-Bone Springs aquifer on the west flank of Guadalupe Mountain National Park, while the land surface sold for $50 to $300 dollars per acre with no rights except for a household well or a stock well. Anshutz was the company purchasing water rights out there too.
Bob Ebersole

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Heading Out on October 22, 2007 - 11:28am

Nate:
I am not completely sure of the answer but I believe it is to do with surface rights, and the land holdings that he has. Water rights can go with that land, and it was my impression that this was what he was referring to, but I am willing to be corrected on this.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

westexas on October 22, 2007 - 12:00pm

Fundamentally, it's related to private mineral ownership in Texas and the "Rule of Capture." Except for some specific groundwater district areas, a landowner can pump as much water as he wants, subject to the maximum capacity of the water well.

Also, the mineral estate and the surface estate can be severed. In other words, you can own the surface but not any of the mineral rights. I think that what Pickens did is to simply purchase all ground water rights underlying a large chunk of land over the aquifer.

In regard to "The Worst Hard Time," it is an excellent book. The suffering of the people that stayed in the Dust Bowl areas was almost beyond belief.

As I noted on Drumbeat, there were parts of Texas that were abandoned because of a lack of water in the Fifties.

BTW, note that the leading "solution" to the looming water crises in the US is to process brackish water and saltwater, presumably using reverse osmosis, which is of course hugely energy intensive.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

oilmanbob on October 23, 2007 - 9:05am

I really enjoyed "The Worst Hard Time" too.

There's quite a problem with salinisation of crop land from using water from many aquifers, and a lot of the Ogalala is drained now past using for irrigation. Twenty or thirty years ago all the area in the Pecos River valley was irrigated for cotton and cantelope. Now its all reverted to pasture as the Ogalala goes dry. Bob Ebersole

Comments can no longer be added to this story.