Counties / Austin County / Land & wells
Austin County land: wells, valuation & septic
Screening information for buying acreage, with a source and review date on every fact.
What is established for Austin County
2 of 3 screening layers have a reviewed official source. None of this substitutes for a survey, a title opinion, or a determination by the office that regulates your tract.
Bluebonnet Groundwater Conservation District
Who regulates a well here, and what does a permit require?
- District
- Bluebonnet Groundwater Conservation District (BGCD) ↗
- Counties served
- Austin, Grimes, Walker and Waller ↗
- Governance
- Sixteen-member board; four directors appointed to four-year terms by each county's commissioners court. ↗
This source does not establish: Exempt-well criteria and the permit threshold for a domestic or livestock well; Spacing, drawdown and production limits; Whether a specific tract lies inside the district boundary. Confirm these with the office before relying on them.
Official source ↗ · Reviewed 2026-10-12 · Source last checked 2026-10-12. Conservation-district boundaries do not follow county lines. A district listed for the county does not establish the rule for a specific tract.
Austin County Appraisal District, guidelines adopted January 15, 2026
What does the appraisal district require for 1-d-1 productivity valuation?
- Adopted
- January 15, 2026 ↗
- Improved pasture
- Typically 10 acres ↗
- Native pasture
- Typically 30–50 acres, depending on density of woods ↗
- Dry cropland
- Typically 50 acres ↗
- Irrigated cropland
- Typically 100 acres ↗
- Orchard
- Typically 5 acres ↗
- Livestock intensity
- At least 5 animal units for a majority of the calendar year. Stocking rates: 1 animal unit per 4 acres improved pasture, 6 acres native open pasture, 10 acres woodland. ↗
- Beekeeping
- 5 to 20 acres, typically 6 to 12 mainframe hives ↗
- Wildlife management
- Each individual landowner must have at least 11 acres ↗
This source does not establish: Rollback tax exposure for a specific tract; How the district applies these typical acreages to an individual application. Confirm these with the office before relying on them.
Official source ↗ · Reviewed 2026-10-12 · Source last checked 2026-10-12. Each appraisal district sets its own acreage and degree-of-intensity standards. Losing the valuation can trigger rollback taxes for prior years.
On-site sewage
Who permits a septic system, and what must be done before a permit?
Not yet researched for Austin County. This layer is published only after reading the responsible office's own source, so there is nothing here yet rather than an inference.
Coverage & limits
Each fact links the page it was read from. A field that is absent was not established by that source; it is not a finding that the requirement does not exist. Groundwater district boundaries do not follow county lines, so district coverage for a county does not establish coverage for a specific tract.