Tailwater is often misunderstood and as such, too many report it falsely. In case there is any confusion, it is not what happens when T. Boone Pickens extracts the groundwaters of the high plains only so that they can be used to flush toilets in San Antonio. Tailwater is defined by the HPUWCD as irrigation water that has:
"willfully or negligently causing, suffering, or permitting underground water to escape into any river, creek, natural watercourse, depression, lake, reservoir, drain, sewer, street, highway, road or road ditch, or onto any land other than that of the owner of the well; or ground water pumped for irrigation that escapes as irrigation tailwater onto land other than that of the owner of the well unless permission has been granted by the occupant of the land receiving the discharge…"
The HPUWCD has an online form that allows anyone to report tailwater incidents. Once reported, a field data technician will investigate the matter and, if necessary, punish and/or prosecute the violator.
It's very easy to report tailwater abuse because it can be seen with the naked eye. Other types of environmental abuses cannot be easily seen and therefore cannot be easily reported, such as groundwater contamination. Consider the site of Waste Control Specialists in Andrews, Texas. Environmentalists contend that this toxic waste disposal facility is located within the geological boundaries of the Ogalala aquifer and should be considered illegal by Texas law. In fact several staff members of the Commission believe that WCS' application for toxic dumping should have been denied. Nevertheless, as Texas history most often predicts, there is always a motive for the seemingly unexplainable act. Shortly after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (an oxymoron) issued the permit, the executive director of the Commission, Glenn Shankle, was hired by Waste Control Specialists as a lobbyist with a lobby contract worth between $100,000 and $150,000.
The moral of the story is that no one will ever know where the boundaries of the Ogalala reside in an around Andrews, Texas and Pecos, New Mexico because no one is allowed near the area without the proper access, granted only to those in support of WCS. The truth is relative.