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Independent Texas water-rights disclosure research

TREC Form 61-0 Research Guide

Organize seller-known information, official water-record searches, saved documents, and unresolved questions before completing the current TREC form. This guide does not choose an answer for the seller.

Official form nameSeller's Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights
Form and effective dateTREC No. 61-0 · July 1, 2026

What TREC Form 61-0 is

TREC describes Form 61-0 as a seller disclosure intended to provide prospective buyers with information about groundwater and surface-water rights associated with a property. The form asks about seller knowledge across groundwater districts, wells, shared or off-property supply, groundwater-right arrangements, surface-water rights, and ponds, lakes, or tanks.

What this independent guide does

  • Organizes seller observations without converting them into conclusions.
  • Routes research to named official sources.
  • Keeps source links, access dates, and saved records together.
  • Preserves open questions for the appropriate next step.

What this guide does not do

  • It does not fill out or answer Form 61-0 for a seller.
  • It does not determine ownership, title, severance, reservation, or transfer.
  • It does not treat a nearby record or map point as a property fact.
  • It does not replace the independent-service disclaimer or transaction-specific professional advice.

Start with what is known

What you need before you begin

Gather what is available; a missing item can remain an open question.

01

Property identifiers

Street address, county, legal description, appraisal identifier, survey, lot, block, or tract reference.

02

Known water source

Seller-known information about private wells, shared wells, off-property supply, public supply, or more than one source.

03

Existing well records

Reports, tracking numbers, district registrations or permits, driller information, maintenance records, and plugging records.

04

Property documents

Deeds, agreements, leases, reservations, conveyances, easements, and relevant title materials.

05

Surface-water identifiers

Permit, certified filing, certificate of adjudication, authorization, or other known TCEQ numbers.

Applicability comes first

Before you begin: determine whether the transaction uses Form 61-0

Start with the actual transaction contract. TREC's mandatory-use classification for license holders is a different question from the contract's delivery choices and its complete five-condition exemption. The contract, party roles, selected option, and seller-known facts must be reviewed without forcing a yes-or-no legal conclusion.

Read the Form 61-0 applicability guide
Independent research toolUse the current official form and instructions for the transaction. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by TREC, TWDB, TCEQ, or any groundwater conservation district.
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Question-by-question routing

Research map for each major subject

Keep each subject tied to the source or document that can address it. One source rarely answers every water question.

03

Shared and off-property wells

Record who owns or operates the well, who benefits, which tract contains it, and any agreement or understanding. A well report alone does not establish the current arrangement.

04

Groundwater rights sold, leased, reserved, or severed

Gather deeds, leases, reservations, conveyances, and title materials. Preserve the exact language and route unresolved effect or ownership questions to the appropriate Texas professional.

06

Ponds, lakes, and tanks

Record what the seller knows about the feature, location, use, and related documents. The physical presence of water does not by itself establish a surface-water authorization or ownership conclusion.

A valid research state

What “I'm not sure” means

“I'm not sure” means the available seller knowledge or research does not yet support a confident statement. It should remain visible instead of being silently changed to “No.”

  • Source question: identify the official agency, district, or record system to check next.
  • Document question: identify the deed, report, agreement, lease, reservation, permit, or title material that may be needed.
  • Seller-knowledge question: preserve what the seller knows and does not know without substituting a database result.
  • Interpretation question: flag the issue for the title, legal, surveying, engineering, well, or regulatory professional appropriate to it.

Use precise status language

Common public-record research outcomes

Status labels should describe the evidence actually found, not imply a final property or disclosure conclusion.

Likely record match

Several meaningful identifiers agree with the property evidence. Keep the record and the comparison notes, while avoiding a claim the source itself cannot establish.

Candidate record

A report, permit, name, or map result may be relevant, but the available identifiers do not yet support a reliable property association.

No public record found

The searched public system returned no useful result. Record where, how, and when you searched; do not silently convert the result into a seller answer.

Conflicting records

Two sources disagree about a location, identifier, date, status, or responsible entity. Preserve both records and identify the conflict for follow-up.

District-boundary uncertainty

The location appears near a boundary or the address point does not resolve coverage. Compare better property evidence and verify with the relevant district or agency.

Document found but interpretation unresolved

A deed, reservation, lease, agreement, permit, or certificate was located, but its effect on the property remains a professional-review question.

Before signing or sharing

Final review checklist

  1. Seller answers remain seller answers.The assistant and public records did not choose a response on the seller's behalf.
  2. Official sources and records are saved.Keep direct links, report or authorization numbers, downloads, and useful search details.
  3. Access dates are recorded.Note when each source was checked because public systems and external records can change.
  4. Unresolved matters remain visible.A candidate, conflict, unknown, or no-result search was not silently converted to “No.”
  5. Professional-review flags are identified.Separate title, ownership, severance, transfer, compliance, boundary, or document-interpretation questions for follow-up.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Is Form 61-0 the same as the ordinary seller disclosure?

TREC lists Form 61-0 separately as the Seller's Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights. Use the current transaction documents and official TREC materials to determine which forms apply.

How do I fill out TREC 61-0?

Begin with the seller's knowledge, gather property and water identifiers, search the relevant official sources, save useful records, and preserve unknown or interpretive questions. This guide organizes that research but does not provide the seller's answers.

Can a real estate license holder select the answers?

This guide does not authorize the site or another person to choose a seller's responses. Questions about participant roles or transaction-specific obligations should go to the responsible broker or a Texas attorney.

Does a well report prove the well still operates?

No. A report may describe historical construction or location information, but it does not by itself establish current existence, operation, ownership, water quality, yield, or compliance.

Does a nearby water right belong to the property?

A nearby authorization point, recorded holder, or place-of-use record is not proof of ownership or property association. Compare the authorization documents with reliable property, deed, title, and survey evidence.

What happens when no public record is found?

Record the source, search terms, date, and no-result outcome. Try other appropriate official pathways and preserve the question rather than treating the search result as a disclosure answer.

Can the research be saved and printed?

Yes. The guided assistant stores progress in the current browser, prepares a printable research summary, and tracks unresolved questions. The separate checklist above can also be printed before starting or after gathering records.

Source record

Official sources checked

Texas Water Development Board

Locating a Water Well Report

Official TWDB instructions for selecting and searching Texas well-report systems and comparing possible records.Reviewed

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Groundwater Conservation Districts

Official TCEQ district page with current map, contact, and groundwater-district information pathways.Reviewed

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Water Rights Viewer

Official TCEQ viewer page describing available water-right information and the limits of mapped data.Reviewed

Research boundary

What this page cannot establish

  • The guide organizes seller-known information and research leads; it does not select or validate a Form 61-0 response.
  • A map point, well report, district layer, permit, recorded name, or nearby record is not proof of ownership or property association.
  • Public records may be incomplete, historical, approximate, or changed after the displayed source-review date.
  • The guide does not determine title, ownership, severance, reservation, transferability, compliance, or the legal effect of a document.

Continue the research

Who must complete TREC Form 61-0?Compare current TREC contracts, mandatory-use rules, the five-condition exemption, delivery paths, and transaction-specific review boundaries.Read this guide →Researching water wells for TREC Form 61-0Keep seller-known well information separate from candidate public records without selecting a disclosure answer.Read this guide →Researching a groundwater district for TREC Form 61-0Document a candidate district, boundary uncertainty, current official sources, and open jurisdiction questions.Read this guide →Researching shared and off-property wellsOrganize private agreements, beneficiaries, operation, payment, access, and seller-confirmation evidence.Read this guide →Official well-report source familyCompare the approved groundwater, submitted-driller-report, and plugging-report pathways before preserving a candidate record.Read this guide →Official groundwater-district source familyMove from statewide boundary orientation to the appropriate district's current official information pathway.Read this guide →How to find Texas water well recordsCompare search systems, identifiers, dates, and location evidence before treating a well report as a likely match.Read this guide →How to find a groundwater conservation districtUse official district sources, treat mapped boundaries as research evidence, and verify uncertain locations.Read this guide →How to use the TCEQ Water Rights ViewerRecord candidate authorization details without treating a map point or recorded holder as proof of property association.Read this guide →Research methodologySee how the project separates sources, candidate matches, uncertainty, and professional-review questions.Read this guide →Independent-service disclaimerReview the educational, independent-service, source, and professional boundaries that apply to this guide.Read this guide →TWDB Groundwater DatabaseOfficial TWDB search surface for selected groundwater well, measurement, and water-quality records.Review the source record →TWDB Submitted Drillers ReportsOfficial TWDB navigation entry for submitted water-well driller report records and report identifiers.Review the source record →TWDB Plugging ReportsOfficial TWDB navigation entry for submitted well-plugging report records and report dates.Review the source record →TCEQ Groundwater Conservation District BoundariesOfficial TCEQ ArcGIS source for informational groundwater-conservation-district boundary and district-routing context.Review the source record →

For the site-wide evidence standard, see the Texas Water Sources research methodology. For service and professional boundaries, read the independent-service disclaimer.