Water School

A 10-year flood is a high streamflow that overflows the natural or artificial banks of a waterway and has a 10% chance of occurring in any given year.

The height above mean sea level that water in a reservoir has reached. Brazos River Authority and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lakes are actually reservoirs, or parts of the Brazos River basin impounded by dams. (A free-flowing river is measured in stages, that is, by depth from the river bed to the surface.)

Datum is the basis for relating a river's stage to mean sea level. (datum + stage = elevation in feet above mean sea level)

Rainwater harvesting is both legal and encouraged in the state of Texas. Multiple laws support the collection of rainwater by both private and public entities. For example, Texas Property Code prevents homeowners associations in the state from prohibiting rainwater harvesting systems for personal use. Additionally, Texas requires new state facilities to add rainwater harvesting systems in their designs, according to the Texas Water Development Board.Rain Barrel    Here are so...

Unappropriated water is the state water remaining in a watercourse that is available for appropriation (ie permitting) under the rules of TCEQ.  Or in other words, it is the amount of water that could be available for use from a water source after all existing water rights have been fully taken into account.

Over the past 200 years of Texas history, the state has experienced several different laws governing the use of surface water. These differing laws often created conflict in water rights claims. In 1967, the Texas Legislature directed the predecessor agency of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to clarify this system and classify Texas water rights by Certificates of Adjudication. These certificates were each assigned a priority date based on when the water use first occurred.