On February 24, 2012, the Texas Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, one of the most significant water law cases in years. In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled that, under both the common law and the recently enacted Senate Bill 332, a landowner owns the groundwater under his land "in place" as a property right that cannot be taken for public use without adequate compensation guaranteed by the Takings Clause of the Texas Constitution. The decision is likely to have wide-ranging effects for landowners' rights, as well as impacts on the regulation of groundwater by the state's 96 established groundwater conservation districts.

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