(a) The Nueces River and its associated tributaries, tributaries in the Nueces Rio Grande Coastal Basin, and Corpus Christi and Baffin Bays are substantially sound ecological environments.
(b) For the Nueces River and its associated tributaries, and tributaries in the Nueces-Rio Grande Coastal Basin, the commission finds that these sound ecological environments can best be maintained by a set of flow standards that implement a schedule of flow quantities that contain subsistence flow, base flow, and high flow pulses at defined measurement points. Minimum flow levels for these components will vary by season and by year since the amount of precipitation and, therefore, whether a system is in subsistence or base flow conditions, will vary from year to year and within a year from season to season, and the number of pulses protected will also vary with the amount of precipitation.
(c) For Nueces Bay and Nueces Delta, the commission finds that the freshwater inflow standards in this subchapter are appropriate environmental flow standards that are adequate to support a sound ecological environment to the maximum extent reasonable considering other public interests and other relevant factors. The existing ecological condition of Nueces Bay and Nueces Delta may be improved, but will not be diminished, by the freshwater inflow standards in this subchapter.

Source Note: The provisions of this §298.410 adopted to be effective March 6, 2014, 39 TexReg 1416