Do you need a permit to drill a water well in Texas?

Texas does not have a single, statewide water well permit. It has ninety-eight separate permitting authorities, plus a handful of statewide construction and contractor rules that apply everywhere. Whether you need a permit, what it costs, and how long it takes is a local question — and it’s the single most-misunderstood part of drilling a well in this state.

The 30-second answer

• If your land is inside a groundwater conservation district (most of Texas is), you almost certainly need to file something — even for a small domestic well.
• Many counties allow “exempt” domestic wells below a certain production level (commonly 25,000 gallons per day) but still require registration.
• Larger wells — irrigation, livestock above a threshold, commercial, or public supply — require a full operating permit.
• Regardless of permits, every well in Texas must be drilled by a TDLR-licensed driller and reported to the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation via a State of Texas Well Report.

First, the rule of capture

Texas is the last U.S. state where groundwater is governed primarily by the rule of capture. The Texas Supreme Court adopted it in 1904 (Houston & Texas Central Railway v. East), and the legislature has chipped at it but never replaced it.

Under the rule of capture, a landowner generally owns the groundwater beneath their land and can pump it without liability to neighbors whose wells decline as a result. There are real exceptions — willful waste, malicious pumping, subsidence — but the baseline is permissive.

The state’s response, starting in the 1949 Texas Water Code and expanding ever since, was to authorize local groundwater conservation districts to manage production through permits. That’s why you can drive ten miles across a county line in Texas and walk into a completely different regulatory regime.

Groundwater conservation districts (GCDs)

A GCD is a local political subdivision — usually one county or a handful of counties — created by the legislature to regulate groundwater under Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code. Each district sets its own rules, within state guardrails. As of 2026, there are 98 GCDs covering most, but not all, of Texas.

Typical GCD responsibilities:

• Issue drilling and operating permits
• Set spacing requirements (distance from property lines, other wells)
• Cap production from large wells
• Require well registration and reporting
• Plug abandoned wells and inspect well construction

“Whether you need a permit to drill in Texas is fundamentally a county-line question. The same project that requires three weeks of paperwork in Hays County is functionally unregulated forty miles east.”

How to find your groundwater conservation district

1. Check the Texas Water Development Board’s GCD map.
2. Call your county clerk — they can tell you which district your parcel falls in.
3. Ask the driller. Any TDLR-licensed contractor working your area knows the local GCD by heart.

A small but meaningful percentage of Texas — including parts of East Texas and some North Texas counties — is not inside any GCD. In those areas, residential wells are functionally unregulated beyond statewide driller and reporting requirements.

Exempt vs. permitted wells

Most GCDs distinguish between exempt wells (smaller, domestic, or low-volume livestock) and permitted wells (larger production for irrigation, commercial use, or public supply).

Typical exempt-well criteria

• Used solely for domestic supply or livestock
• Producing no more than 25,000 gallons per day (the most common threshold)
• Casing diameter at or below a set limit (often 5″–6.5″)
• On a parcel above a minimum acreage (varies)

Exempt does not mean invisible. Almost every GCD still requires you to register an exempt well, file a drilling notification, and conform to spacing and construction standards.

When a permit is required

• Irrigation wells supplying more than a few acres
• Wells producing above the exempt threshold (often 25,000 gpd)
• Public water systems
• Commercial and industrial wells
• Wells in special-management zones (e.g. the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone)

What’s required statewide, regardless of GCD

Three things apply everywhere in Texas:

1. A TDLR-licensed water well driller. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation licenses every person who drills a well for compensation in this state. (Owner-drilled wells on your own property are a narrow exception.)
2. A State of Texas Well Report (the “Well Log”). Within 60 days of completion, the driller must file a well report with TDLR documenting depth, geology, casing, pump, and water quality.
3. Construction to TCEQ & TDLR standards. Casing depth, surface sealing, sanitary well caps, and minimum setbacks from septic systems are all governed by state construction rules — see the spacing guide.

A few Texas counties at a glance

Specific GCD pages on this site walk through each district’s fees, forms, and timelines.

How long does a Texas well permit take?

• Exempt-well registration: 1–2 weeks, often faster.
• Standard operating permit: 4–8 weeks.
• Edwards Aquifer Authority permit: 8–16+ weeks, depending on zone and project.
• Hearing required (contested): 3–9 months.

A good Texas driller will pull the permit on your behalf. If your contractor doesn’t mention permits in their first conversation with you, treat that as a yellow flag.

Common Texas permit mistakes

1. Assuming “exempt” means “no paperwork.” It almost never does.
2. Drilling before the permit is in hand. Some GCDs assess significant fines for unpermitted drilling.
3. Missing a spacing setback. Setbacks from property lines, septic systems, and other wells can require redrilling if violated. See the spacing guide.
4. Not plugging an old well on the property. Texas requires abandoned wells be plugged by a licensed contractor — this often surfaces during a real estate transaction.
5. Hiring an unlicensed driller. Any well drilled in Texas by a non-TDLR-licensed driller is illegal and may not be insurable.

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