Skip to Content
Questions or Comments: wqap@tceq.texas.gov

What Is "Water in the State"?

As defined in the Texas Water Code, Section 26.001.

Under Section 26.001 of the Texas Water Code, "water in the state" has a specific meaning.

"Water" or "water in the state" means groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state.