Water Quality Permitting

 
A number of agencies have the responsibility for protecting waterways in Texas. The following information is intended to help the public understand the participation processes used by the various permitting agencies that regulate activities that can impact water quality.

To see how LCRA participates in the public permit process, read more about our Water Quality Permit Review Program.

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)

As the state environmental agency TCEQ issues permits for and regulates:

  • Domestic and industrial wastewater facilities
  • Municipal and solid waste disposal
  • Hazardous waste
  • Some agricultural activity

Visit the TCEQ public participation page for an in-depth description of the water quality permitting process and instructions on how to find information on a particular permit. You can also find information for all permits in a specific county and instructions on how to submit comments on pending permits. TCEQ also offers a comment page with links to pending matters and electronic filing forms.

To find information on an individual permit it is helpful to have the applicant’s name and the TCEQ permit number. If not, you can try searching by county. This TCEQ link can also help you find information on a permit:

  • The Commissioners Integrated Database
    • For this query, you must enter the entire permit number, including the program letters, or enter the applicant’s name. Using the example permit number above for this query, you would enter “WQ0012345001”. To return a list of all activities for the permit history, be sure to check the “open and closed items” box along with the box for “filings with TCEQ Chief Clerk.” This will return a list of historic and current permit activities, and sometimes includes links to pertinent documents and notices for the permit.

Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) publishes notice of proposed rules and rule changes in the Texas Register. For information on those rules and how to comment, go to the TPWD comment page.

TPWD also has the authority to regulate some instream sand and gravel mining operations. For more information on mining in stream beds, go to TPWD land and water page.

Railroad Commission

The Railroad Commission of Texas regulates:

  • Oil and natural gas industry
  • Pipeline transporters
  • Natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline industry
  • Natural gas utilities
  • Liquefied petroleum gas industry
  • Coal and uranium surface mining operations.

The Railroad Commission does not have a public notification system for individual issues, but it does maintain a list of items on the commission’s docket page. The “contact us” link on that page provides a list of contacts that are available to answer questions.

Texas Register

The Texas Register is the official journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. It includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of review of agency rules, governor’s appointments, attorney general opinions, and other documents. The site also lists scheduled meetings of state and regional agencies under its Open Meetings link.