State law provides that riparian landowners’ domestic and livestock water rights (D&L users) are superior and have priority over all permitted water rights holders.  D&L users can submit a “priority call” to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) when their section of the river has insufficient flow to satisfy their D&L needs.  In 2011 and 2013, the TCEQ investigated priority calls made by downstream D&L users and suspended pumping on the San Saba River by permitted water rights holders.  San Saba River flow resumed after the TCEQ 2011 and 2013 suspensions.  

Beginning in 2006, downstream D&L users annually filed priority calls with the TCEQ due to insufficient flow on the San Saba River to satisfy domestic and livestock needs.  In August 2011, TCEQ suspended all permitted water rights on the San Saba River for the first time.  San Saba River flow resumed after the TCEQ suspension order.  In summer 2012, the TCEQ refused to suspend permitted water rights after receiving priority calls because it did not believe water flow would reach D&L users downstream even though water flow resumed in 2011 after the TCEQ suspension.

In August 2013, the TCEQ’s Executive Director suspended all permitted water rights on the San Saba River for the second time in response to priority calls filed by two D&L users and FOSS members.  The suspension order established minimal streamflow levels for the San Saba River equal to 33% of normal flow and required permitted water rights holders to suspend takes from the San Saba River when flow was below this minimal level.  The suspension order was canceled in October 2013 after significant rainfall resulted in increased stream flows.

In summer 2015, numerous priority calls were filed by downstream D&L users due to no flow on the San Saba River starting 5 miles east of Menard and extending 45 miles of the 140 mile length of the river.  All priority calls were denied by TCEQ staff even though San Saba River conditions were worse in 2015 than conditions in August 2013 when the TCEQ Executive Director issued his suspension order.  TCEQ staff disregarded the minimal flow level established in the 2013 suspension order.  TCEQ staff denied priority calls claiming D&L users had access to one or two muddy potholes that held some water in an otherwise dried up river bed.  There was no San Saba River flow from early June until October 2015 due to TCEQ’s abandonment of minimal flow principles applied in the 2013 suspension order.

In July 2014, a TCEQ attorney sent an e-mail to the legal counsel for Menard’s irrigation interests in which he acknowledged that riparian rights are considered superior to permitted water rights under common law.  However, the attorney stated “…the Commission does not usually enforce this common law requirement outside of watermaster areas” leaving any enforcement of such rights by “…an aggrieved riparian right owner [to] district court.”  TCEQ has repeatedly allowed upstream irrigators and illegal alluvial well owners to pump the San Saba River dry and failed to take meaningful action to protect the superior water rights of D&L users on the San Saba River.

FOSS recommends that TCEQ take the following actions to keep water flowing in the San Saba River:

• Establish and maintain minimal river flow levels
• Suspend junior permitted water rights holders when river flow drops below the minimal level
• Fix the priority call system so it provides meaningful protection of D&L users’ superior water rights.

Unless the application of the TCEQ’s priority call system is addressed, the superior water rights of D&L users will continue to be denied and the loss of numerous miles of San Saba River streamflow and life, fauna, and mussel habitat will reoccur during the peak upstream irrigation season.

Further Information:

• No Resolution in Sight for Ranchers and Farmers Fighting Over San Saba River, Texas Observer, May 24, 2018, Discusses Brady, Texas Hearing held by the Texas House Committee on Natural Resources, which included testimony from upstream and downstream landowners on the San Saba River, state agencies, hydrologists, and other experts.  [TEXAS OBSERVER LINK]  [DOWNLOAD PDF]
• E-mail from TCEQ attorney, July 1, 2014, says the TCEQ does not enforce the superior water rights of riparian landowners outside of watermaster areas. [DOWNLOAD PDF]
• How to Disappear a River, Texas Observer, October 30, 2017, Discusses why a 40-mile stretch of the San Saba River keeps drying up, including discussion about alluvial wells, domestic & livestock water rights, and freshwater mussels. [TEXAS OBSERVER LINK]  [DOWNLOAD PDF] 
• Debate Builds over how to Save the San Saba River, Texas Tribune, July 19, 2013, Discusses domestic & livestock water rights and TCEQ priority calls in the summer of 2013, the American Rivers 2013 most endangered rivers list, watermasters, and the Menard Irrigation Canal. [TEXAS TRIBUNE LINK] [DOWNLOAD PDF] 
• America’s Most Endangered Rivers, American Rivers, 2013, Explains why American Rivers selected the San Saba River as the third most endangered river in the United States [DOWNLOAD PDF]