Commissioners in Camp, Cass, Upshur and Wood counties voted June 30 to join a proposed 16-county regional groundwater conservation district, seeking legal authority over pumping from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer before Dallas-area water planners drill 90 high-capacity wells in the region.
The votes put six counties behind a district that would regulate one of the largest unregulated groundwater pockets in Texas. The state has 98 groundwater conservation districts covering about 70% of its area, according to the Texas Water Development Board. Upper Northeast Texas has none. Where no district exists, the state’s rule of capture lets a landowner pump unlimited water from beneath his property — and sell it elsewhere.
A Dallas-area regional water plan filed with the board calls for 30 wells each in Smith, Upshur and Wood counties, pumping 25,000 acre-feet a year to North Texas, according to the Longview News-Journal. The paper reported the plan states the project can be fully implemented because the area has no groundwater district, no pumping regulations and no limitations. Upshur County Judge-elect Brandon Dodd called the plan an “imminent and real threat.”
“The purpose of this groundwater conservation district is protecting our water before it becomes someone else’s,” Dodd said at the June 30 commissioners meeting.
Smith County commissioners voted unanimously June 16 to support the district; Harrison County has also voted to join. Wood and Upshur counties approved hiring the SledgeLaw Group to draft the district’s framework. The district would be funded by fees on water supply corporations — passed to customers at roughly $3 to $4 a month — not property taxes, Dodd said. State Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, told the News-Journal the district would govern commercial wells only, not agricultural or private wells.
The district could not ban commercial wells outright — state law does not allow it — but could set pumping and spacing limits to protect the aquifer, Dodd said.
The push follows investor Kyle Bass’s proposal to pump up to 15.9 billion gallons a year from the Carrizo-Wilcox in Anderson County, a plan put on hold last October amid opposition. The Texas House passed a bill in August 2025 to limit East Texas water exports, but broader protections stalled.
More counties are expected to vote in the coming weeks. The district must be created by the Legislature, and organizers are targeting the 2027 session. Hefner said the proposal has “good chances” of passing.