Land / Water rights
Texas splits water into two kinds with completely different rules, and mixing them up causes trouble. The short version: you may own the water under your land, but not the creek running across it.
Owned by the State and held for the public. To use it for most things - irrigating crops, commercial, industrial - you need a permit from the TCEQ, and older rights get water first in a drought ('first in time, first in right'). The exception: a landowner next to a stream may use it for household and livestock needs without a permit, but not to irrigate crops or run a business.
Groundwater is privately owned, but its ownership rights can be severed from the surface. The rule of capture generally protects lawful pumping from a neighbor's drawdown claim; it does not excuse malicious pumping, waste, negligent subsidence, or pollution. Local Groundwater Conservation Districts can impose spacing, pumping, and reporting rules. Before drilling any well, ask the district whether it needs a permit or registration. A domestic or livestock permit exemption may still require registration.
Stock tanks & ponds
A stock tank on your own land may qualify for the domestic-and-livestock water-rights exemption when its normal storage is no more than 200 acre-feet. That exemption does not cover a commercial operation or a reservoir on a navigable stream. Wildlife and fishing exemptions have separate conditions involving qualified open-space land or wildlife management outside city limits; fish farming is not included in that wildlife-management provision. A decorative pond is not automatically exempt, and a water-rights exemption does not waive dam-safety or other construction rules. Give TCEQ the site, water source, storage volume, and intended use before digging.
Where to get real answers
The TCEQ handles surface-water permits; the Texas Water Development Board and your local Groundwater Conservation District handle groundwater. AgriLife has a plain-English Texas water law explainer.
Before you act: Not legal advice. Whether you need a permit, and what your groundwater district allows, depends on the water and your exact location - confirm with the TCEQ and your local district before you build a well or pond. How to use Texas Porch carefully.
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