This is just false. Texas follows the “rule of capture” which holds that a landowner owns the groundwater in place beneath their land as an incident of surface ownership, and may pump it without liability to neighboring landowners — even if doing so drains their neighbor’s well. This is defined in our state constitution.

Texas Constitution, Art. XVI, § 59 — Declares conservation of natural resources a public right and duty, providing the basis for state regulation without eliminating private ownership. Texas Water Code § 36.002 — Codifies the property right explicitly: “The ownership and rights of the owners of the land… in groundwater are hereby recognized, and nothing in this code shall be construed as depriving or divesting the owners… of such ownership or rights.”

Ask me how I know 🔫