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About Metropolitan Water Company, L.P.
Metropolitan
Water Company, L.P.
("Met Water") was established in 1999 for the purpose of developing
groundwater resources through out the State of Texas. W. Scott Carlson
is the President of Metropolitan Water Company of Texas, L.L.C., which
is the general partner of Met Water. Mr. Carlson's background, for over
20 years, was in the oil and gas exploration business in Southeast
Texas and along the Texas Gulf Coast. In 1999, he realized that his
skills were equally applicable to the development of groundwater in
Texas. He also surmised that the next major water resource to be
developed in the State was a groundwater resource in the central Texas
area known as the Carrizo-Wilcox
Aquifer. Texas Water Law Background Historically, Texas water law
has distinguished between two types of water - surface water and
groundwater. Surface water, the water in rivers, streams and lakes, is
owned by the State of Texas and may be used by persons only after
obtaining a permit from the State. On the other hand, groundwater, the
water percolating in aquifers
beneath the surface of the State, has been held to be essentially
private property, and the right to use the water is a part of the
surface owner’s rights. Generally, the surface owner has been entitled
to use any groundwater he can obtain by drilling a well on his
property. This law, known as the rule of capture, is much like oil and
gas law at its inception. Slowly, however, particularly over the last
fifty years, Texas has begun to create local districts to regulate the
amount of groundwater a landowner may capture, thus encroaching on the
rule of capture in certain local districts where groundwater supplies
have been diminishing or are threatened.
Water Resource Market Historically, the water
resource market in Texas has been dominated by
government - cities and water districts. This is especially true in the
area of municipal and, for that matter, industrial use. With the
exception of Houston, San Antonio and areas in far west Texas,
including El Paso, most cities rely on surface water supplies. Even in
Houston and San Antonio, however, where groundwater supplies have been
prolific, recent regulatory developments have forced the development of
plans to obtain alternative sources other than the local groundwater
resources. In Houston, the problem has been caused by subsidence from
groundwater pumping in the local aquifer; in San Antonio, the problem
has been caused by the Endangered Species Act requirements that spring
flows from the Edwards Aquifer at New Braunfels and San Marcos be
continued, thereby limiting access to the Aquifer underlying San
Antonio.
At this point in the State’s
development, Texas can basically be
divided in half, between east and west, along a line divided by IH-35
which runs north and south from Laredo to Dallas and into Oklahoma.
Areas west of IH-35 generally have no or very limited supplies
available for development of new municipal and industrial use projects.
Areas east of IH-35 generally do have supplies available. However, in
the area immediately surrounding IH-35, a high-growth corridor, surface
water supplies are extremely limited. There is essentially no (or very
limited) surface water available in the Trinity River (Dallas-Fort
Worth), the Brazos River (Waco), the Guadalupe and San Marcos Rivers
(San Antonio/New Braunfels/San Marcos) and the Rio Grande (Laredo/El
Paso) for commitment to new projects.
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