A book review of Sharing the Common Pool: Water Rights in the Everyday Lives of Texans by Charles R. Porter and an article about regulating hydraulic fracturing in Texas are the two newest published articles in the Texas Water Journal, Volume 6, Number 1.
The online, peer-reviewed journal is published jointly by the Texas Water Resources Institute and The Texas Water Journal, a nonprofit organization.
Dr. Robert E. Mace, Texas Water Development Board deputy executive administrator for water science and conservation and an editor for the journal, reviews Porter’s book written primarily for landowners and real estate agents and recently published by the Texas A&M University Press. ”Capturing the backstories, complexities, and potential pitfalls of Texas water law in a single, readable book is a daunting task, but Charles R. Porter braves the challenge and, for the most part, succeeds in delivering a good overview,” Mace wrote in the review.
In Who regulates it? Water policy and hydraulic fracturing in Texas, authors Margaret A. Cook, Karen L. Huber and Michael E. Webber of the University of Texas at Austin conducted a detailed bottom-up survey for each groundwater conservation district to assess the prevailing policies and practices related to water and hydraulic fracturing. The authors write that policies are inconsistent statewide with great variability from district to district in regulations and potential solutions to the challenge of freshwater use. They also provide information on the practice of hydraulic fracturing and examine strategies and alternative solutions for reducing freshwater use for hydraulic fracturing.
The journal’s editorial board accepts papers about Texas water resources management and policy issues from a multidisciplinary perspective that integrates science, engineering, law, planning and other disciplines. To read the journal, visit texaswaterjournal.org.