The following words, used in this chapter, have the following meanings.

1. (1) Alternative water management strategy--A fully evaluated water management strategy that may be substituted into a regional water plan in the event that a recommended water management strategy is no longer recommended.
2. (2) Availability--Maximum amount of water available from a source during the drought of record, regardless of whether the supply is physically or legally available to water user groups.
3. (3) Board--The Texas Water Development Board.
4. (4) Collective Reporting Unit--A grouping of utilities located in the Regional Water Planning Area. Utilities within a Collective Reporting Unit must have a logical relationship, such as being served by common wholesale water providers, having common sources, or other appropriate associations.
5. (5) Commission--The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
6. (6) Consistency between a regional water plan and a desired future condition--A regional water plan is consistent with a desired future condition if the groundwater availability amount in the regional water plan and on which an existing water supply or recommended water management strategy relies does not exceed the modeled available groundwater amount associated with the desired future condition for the relevant aquifers. The desired future condition must be either the desired future condition adopted as of the date the Board most recently adopted a state water plan or, at the option of the regional water planning group, a desired future condition adopted on a subsequent date.
7. (7) County-other--An aggregation of residential, commercial, and institutional water users in cities with less than 500 people or utilities that provide less than an average of 250,000 gallons per day, as well as unincorporated rural areas in a given county.
8. (8) Drought contingency plan--A plan required from wholesale and retail public water suppliers and irrigation districts pursuant to Texas Water Code §11.1272 (relating to Drought Contingency Plans for Certain Applicants and Water Right Holders). The plan may consist of one or more strategies for temporary supply and demand management and demand management responses to temporary and potentially recurring water supply shortages and other water supply emergencies as required by the Commission.
9. (9) Drought management measures--Demand management activities to be implemented during drought that may be evaluated and included as water management strategies.
10. (10) Drought of record--The period of time when natural hydrological conditions provided the least amount of water supply.
11. (11) Executive administrator (EA)--The executive administrator of the Board or a designated representative.
12. (12) Existing water supply--Maximum amount of water available from existing sources for use during drought of record conditions that is physically and legally available for use by a water user group.
13. (13) Firm yield--Maximum water volume a reservoir can provide each year under a repeat of the drought of record using reasonable sedimentation rates and assuming that all senior water rights will be totally utilized.
14. (14) Interbasin transfer of surface water--Defined and governed in Texas Water Code §11.085 (relating to Interbasin Transfers) as the diverting of any state water from a river basin and transfer of that water to any other river basin.

15. (15) Interregional conflict--An interregional conflict exists when:

    1. (A) more than one regional water plan includes the same source of water supply for identified and quantified recommended water management strategies and there is insufficient water available to implement such water management strategies; or
    2. (B) in the instance of a recommended water management strategy proposed to be supplied from a different regional water planning area, the RWPG with the location of the strategy has studied the impacts of the recommended water management strategy on its economic, agricultural, and natural resources, and demonstrates to the Board that there is a potential for a substantial adverse effect on the region as a result of those impacts.
16. (16) Intraregional conflict--A conflict between two or more identified, quantified, and recommended water management strategies in the same initially prepared plan that rely upon the same water source, so that there is not sufficient water available to fully implement all water management strategies and thereby creating an over-allocation of that source.
17. (17) Initially Prepared Plan (IPP)--Draft regional water plans that are presented at a public hearing in accordance with §357.21(d) of this title (relating to Notice and Public Participation) and submitted for Board review and comment.
18. (18) Political subdivision--City, county, district, or authority created under the Texas Constitution, Article III, §52, or Article XVI, §59, any other political subdivision of the state, any interstate compact commission to which the state is a party, and any nonprofit water supply corporation created and operating under Texas Water Code Chapter 67 (relating to Nonprofit Water Supply or Sewer Service Corporations).
19. (19) Regional water plan (RWP)--The plan adopted or amended by a regional water planning group pursuant to Texas Water Code §16.053 (relating to Regional Water Plans) and this chapter.
20. (20) Regional water planning area (RWPA)--Area designated pursuant to Texas Water Code §16.053.
21. (21) Regional water planning group (RWPG)--Group designated pursuant to Texas Water Code §16.053.
22. (22) Retail public utility--Defined in Texas Water Code §13.002 (relating to Water Rates and Services) as "any person, corporation, public utility, water supply or sewer service corporation, municipality, political subdivision or agency operating, maintaining, or controlling in this state facilities for providing potable water service or sewer service, or both, for compensation."
23. (23) State Drought Preparedness Plan--A plan, separate from the state water plan, that is developed by the Drought Preparedness Council for the purpose of mitigating the effects of drought pursuant to Texas Water Code §16.0551 (relating to State Drought Preparedness Plan).
24. (24) State Drought Response Plan--A plan prepared and directed by the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management for the purpose of managing and coordinating the drought response component of the State Water Plan and the State Drought Preparedness Plan pursuant to Texas Water Code §16.055 (relating to Drought Response Plan).
25. (25) State Water Plan--The most recent state water plan adopted by the Board under the Texas Water Code §16.051 (relating to State Water Plan).
26. (26) Water conservation measures--Practices, techniques, and technologies that will reduce the consumption of water, reduce the loss of waste or water, or improve the efficiency in the use of water that may be presented as water management strategies.
27. (27) Water Conservation Plan--The most current plan required by Texas Water Code §11.1271 (relating to Water Conservation Plans) from an applicant for a new or amended water rights permit and from any holder of a permit, certificate, etc. who is authorized to appropriate more than 1,000 acre-feet per year or more for municipal, industrial, and other non-irrigation uses and for those who are authorized to appropriate 10,000 acre-feet per year or more for irrigation, and the most current plan required by Texas Water Code §13.146 from a retail public utility that provides potable water service to 3,300 or more connections These plans must include specific, quantified 5-year and 10-year targets for water savings.
28. (28) Water Management Strategy--A plan or specific project to meet a need for additional water by a discrete user group, which can mean increasing the total water supply or maximizing an existing supply, including through reducing demands.

29. (29) Water User Group (WUG)--Identified user or group of users for which water demands and water supplies have been identified and analyzed and plans developed to meet water needs. These include:

    1. (A) Incorporated Census places of a population greater than 500, including select Census Designated Places, such as significant military bases or cases in which the Census Designated Place is the only Census place in the county;
    2. (B) Retail public utilities providing more than 280 acre-feet per year for municipal use;
    3. (C) Collective Reporting Units, or groups of retail public utilities that have a common association;
    4. (D) Municipal and domestic water use, referred to as county-other, not included in subparagraphs (A) - (C) of this paragraph; and
    5. (E) Non-municipal water use including manufacturing, irrigation, steam electric power generation, mining, and livestock watering for each county or portion of a county in a RWPA.
30. (30) Wholesale Water Provider (WWP)--Any person or entity, including river authorities and irrigation districts, that has contracts to sell more than 1,000 acre-feet of water wholesale in any one year during the five years immediately preceding the adoption of the last regional water plan. The regional water planning groups shall include as wholesale water providers other persons and entities that enter or that the regional water planning group expects or recommends to enter contracts to sell more than 1,000 acre-feet of water wholesale during the period covered by the plan.

Source Note:The provisions of this §357.10 adopted to be effective August 12, 2012, 37 TexReg 5797; amended to be effective November 30, 2015, 40 TexReg 8648.