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Tex. Water Code § 49.217

This is the official text of Tex. Water Code § 49.217, part of Texas’s Water Code — governs water rights and water resource management.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

§ 49.217. OPERATION OF CERTAIN MOTOR VEHICLES ON OR NEAR PUBLIC FACILITIES.

Official statutory text

(a) In this section, "motor vehicle" means a self-propelled device in, upon, or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a road or highway.

(b) Except as provided in Subsections (c) and (d), a person may not operate a motor vehicle on a levee, in a drainage ditch, or on land adjacent to a levee, canal, ditch, exposed conduit, pipeline, pumping plant, storm water facility, or other facility for the transmission, storage, treatment, or distribution of water, sewage, or storm water owned or controlled by a district.

(c) A district may authorize the use of motor vehicles on land that it owns or controls by posting signs on the property.

(d) This section does not prohibit a person from:

(1) driving on a public road or highway; or

(2) operating a motor vehicle used for repair or maintenance of public water, sewer, or storm water facilities.

(e) A person who operates a motor vehicle in violation of Subsection (b) commits an offense. An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor, except that if a person has been convicted of an offense under this section, a subsequent offense is a Class B misdemeanor.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.