They call it the "law of the big straw" in West Texas. and there's a good reason. The state's "rule of capture" law allows Texans to extract as much water as they want from an aquifer. This means those with the biggest straw get the biggest gulps from underground water supplies. Ranchers with big spreads, farmers with huge crops and cities can draw out more groundwater than their smaller neighbors.

It's been that way for 100 years, but Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson wants to change the status quo. So does Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs. Both Republicans recently said they want the state to think anew about how much water Texans can draw from an aquifer.

Congratulations to both. And we urge the Senate's interim water committee to jump all over this. The state has to have enough groundwater as its population doubles over the next 50 years. If there's going to be enough water for Texans from McKinney to Brownsville, the state's got to rethink the rule of capture.

Ms. Combs proposes limiting how much a Texan can draw from an aquifer. Many states do this, and we like it. And there's a natural way to establish limits. The state could let its 80 or so local groundwater districts allocate the water.

Legislators need to pursue this change in their 2005 session. The need for an overhaul also explains why Mr. Patterson should stop his push to get a private water company to mine aquifers underneath state lands in West Texas, sell the production and use part of the proceeds to benefit Texas schools.

We like the school angle, but the state first needs to rethink the law that governs aquifers. Also, it's unclear what the production would do to nearby aquifers. The state needs a definitive answer before proceeding. There might be a place for this project, but there are other water issues ahead of it. None is bigger than changing the rule of capture. The big straw needs to go.