I’m not an expert on the subject but I don’t think Texas is in as much of a bind as California. There are two main water regulation systems in the US: riparian

I’m not an expert on the subject but I don’t think Texas is in as much of a bind as California. There are two main water regulation systems in the US: riparian (eastern) and prior appropriation (western). There’s are lots of variations and details but at a very high level the riparian system does not create vested property rights in water and so can be freely tweaked by the government. Prior appropriation, on the other hand, does create vested property rights which are then protected by the 14th amendment. This makes reform much more difficult. Texas, being Texas, has an oddball hybrid system. My understanding is that it uses prior appropriation as an allocation method but riparian (state ownership) as a theoretical underpinning. Thus the Texas government should be able to modify the system without running afoul of the 14th amendment.