(a) Permit Exemption for Use of State Water for Irrigation of Certain Historic Cemeteries.      
        (1) Without obtaining a water use permit from the commission, a tax-exempt non-profit corporation that owns a cemetery may divert from a stream not more than 200 acre-feet of water each year to irrigate the grounds of the cemetery if the cemetery:                  (A) borders the stream; and                   (B) is more than 100 years old.         
        (2) If the executive director, or a watermaster who has jurisdiction over the stream from which a cemetery diverts water under this section, determines that the diversion will harm a person downstream of the cemetery who acquired a water right before May 23, 1995, the executive director or the watermaster may order the cemetery to restrict the diversion to the extent and duration of the harm. The executive director may also request appropriate commission action.       
        (3) Any person dissatisfied with the action taken by the executive director or the watermaster pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection may appeal to the commission for relief.       
      (b) Permit Exemption to Use State Water for Sediment Control, Fire Suppression, or Dust Suppression Purposes within a Surface Coal Mining Operation. Without obtaining a permit from the commission, a person may construct or maintain a reservoir as part of a surface coal mining operation under Natural Resources Code, Chapter 134, if the water in the reservoir is used solely for:      
        (1) sediment control; or       
        (2) compliance with applicable laws, rules, or regulations relating to fire or dust suppression.       
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §297.27 adopted to be effective February 24, 1999, 24 TexReg 1162; amended to be effective December 31, 2009, 34 TexReg 9457