(a) Except as authorized by the commission, no person may:
(1) discharge sewage, municipal waste, recreational waste, agricultural waste, or industrial waste into or adjacent to any water in the state;
(2) discharge other waste into or adjacent to any water in the state which in itself or in conjunction with any other discharge or activity causes, continues to cause, or will cause pollution of any of the water in the state, unless the discharge complies with a person’s:
(A) certified water quality management plan approved by the State Soil and Water Conservation Board as provided by § 201.026, Agriculture Code; or
(B) water pollution and abatement plan approved by the commission; or
(3) commit any other act or engage in any other activity which in itself or in conjunction with any other discharge or activity causes, continues to cause, or will cause pollution of any of the water in the state, unless the activity is under the jurisdiction of the Parks and Wildlife Department, the General Land Office, the Department of Agriculture, or the Railroad Commission of Texas, in which case this subdivision does not apply.
(b) In the enforcement of Subdivisions (2) and (3) of Subsection (a) of this section, consideration shall be given to the state of existing technology, economic feasibility, and the water quality needs of the water that might be affected. This subdivision does not apply to any NPDES activity.

Terms Used In Texas Water Code 26.121

  • Agricultural waste: means waterborne liquid, gaseous, or solid substances that arise from the agricultural industry and agricultural activities, including without limitation agricultural animal feeding pens and lots, structures for housing and feeding agricultural animals, and processing facilities for agricultural products. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Board: means the Texas Water Development Board. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Commission: means the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Industrial waste: means waterborne liquid, gaseous, or solid substances that result from any process of industry, manufacturing, trade, or business. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Municipal waste: means waterborne liquid, gaseous, or solid substances that result from any discharge from a publicly owned sewer system, treatment facility, or disposal system. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • NPDES: means the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System under which the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency can delegate permitting authority to the State of Texas in accordance with Section 402(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Other waste: means garbage, refuse, decayed wood, sawdust, shavings, bark, sand, lime, cinders, ashes, offal, oil, tar, dyestuffs, acids, chemicals, salt water, or any other substance, other than sewage, industrial waste, municipal waste, recreational waste, or agricultural waste. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Permit: means an order issued by the commission in accordance with the procedures prescribed in this chapter establishing the treatment which shall be given to wastes being discharged into or adjacent to any water in the state to preserve and enhance the quality of the water and specifying the conditions under which the discharge may be made. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Person: means an individual, association, partnership, corporation, municipality, state or federal agency, or an agent or employee thereof. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Point source: means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants or wastes are or may be discharged into or adjacent to any water in the state. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Pollutant: means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, filter backwash, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into any water in the state. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Pollution: means the alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological quality of, or the contamination of, any water in the state that renders the water harmful, detrimental, or injurious to humans, animal life, vegetation, or property or to public health, safety, or welfare, or impairs the usefulness or the public enjoyment of the water for any lawful or reasonable purpose. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Recreational waste: means waterborne liquid, gaseous, or solid substances that emanate from any public or private park, beach, or recreational area. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • Rule: includes regulation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Sewage: means waterborne human waste and waste from domestic activities, such as washing, bathing, and food preparation. See Texas Water Code 26.001
  • water in the state: means groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, wetlands, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico, inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state. See Texas Water Code 26.001

(c) No person may cause, suffer, allow, or permit the discharge of any waste or the performance of any activity in violation of this chapter or of any permit or order of the commission.
(d) Except as authorized by the commission, no person may discharge any pollutant, sewage, municipal waste, recreational waste, agricultural waste, or industrial waste from any point source into any water in the state.
(e) No person may cause, suffer, allow, or permit the discharge from a point source of any waste or of any pollutant, or the performance or failure of any activity other than a discharge, in violation of this chapter or of any rule, regulation, permit, or other order of the commission.

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