The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) provided an update on brackish groundwater in its February 2016 newsletter. In the feature story it was pointed out that in 2015, the 84th Texas Legislature passed HB 30, providing $2 million in funding and directing the TWDB to identify and designate brackish groundwater production zones in four aquifers: the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer located between the Colorado River and Rio Grande, the Gulf Coast Aquifer and sediments bordering that aquifer, the Blaine Aquifer, and the Rustler Aquifer. These designations are due to the legislature by December 1, 2016. The legislation also directed the TWDB to study the remainder of the state's aquifers and report back to the legislature by December 1, 2022.
TWDB has entered into contracts for studies on all four aquifers due to the legislature by December 1, 2016, as well as three additional aquifers (the Trinity, the Blossom, and the Nacatoch).