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Coordination Among Agencies * The draft rules were first coordinated with the staff of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission in December of 1993. .Coordination continued through the finalization of the bank rules. * Upon development of the first draft of the legislative report in September of 1994, the staff of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission were contacted for suggestions and comments. Revisions to the draft report were made in response to the suggestions received. II. Necessary Elements For Successful Water Marketing' The Texas Water Development Board contracted with Mr. Ronald A. Kaiser of Texas A&M University to perform an analysis of water marketing opportunities and limitations in Texas, in accordance with the recommendations of the 1992 Water Plan. The following elements were identified as being characteristic of successful water markets. The elements are meant to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive. That is, not all of these conditions must be present for a . successful market to exist, but, generally speaking, the greater the number, the greater the likelihood of success. Legally Defined And Transferrable Private PrQperty Rights In Water * Kaiser and Boadu conclude that Texas surface water law permits the reallocation of water through market-based transfers. The report specifically notes that "Texas water law recognizes that water rights are private property and freely transferable to other public and private parties. Strictly speaking, the water belongs to the state but the right to use and enjoy it may be held in private ownership'" In most areas where ground-water pumpage is regulated, the use is tied very closely to the land and the right to produce ground water is routinely transferred with the sale of the land. Examples do exist where the right to use ground water has been sold or leased separately from the land. Sufficient Numbers Of Active Independent Buyers And Sellers To Prevent Market MonQPolization * The small numbers of potential buyers and/or sellers could prove to be a constraint on emergence of markets in some areas of the state, and should , Kaiser, Ronald A. and Boadu, Frederick, An Analysis of the Legal and Institutional Parameters for Water Marketing in Texas, Texas A&M University, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, August 1994, p. ii, funded in part by the Texas Water Development Board 2 Ibid., p. 114. 4