Texas Municipal Setting Designations (MSD)

A Municipal Setting Designation is an official state designation, certified by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), for property inside a municipality or its extraterritorial jurisdiction. It certifies that designated groundwater at the property is not used as potable water and is prohibited from future use as potable water, because that groundwater is contaminated above the applicable potable-water protective concentration level.

In a Phase I ESA

An MSD is a restriction on groundwater use, the kind of record ASTM E1527-21 lists under state institutional and engineering control registries. The general reading of a control listing is on the State/Tribal Institutional and Engineering Control Registries page.

Four details shape how to read one.

• It confirms contamination. A designation is granted because groundwater exceeds the potable-water protective concentration level. It is a record that contaminated groundwater is present, not that it was cleaned up.
• The restriction is local and recorded. The prohibition must take the form of a city ordinance, or a restrictive covenant that the city can enforce and that is filed in the property records. Look for both the state certificate and the local instrument.
• It does not settle every pathway. One of the questions TCEQ puts to applicants is which exposure pathways would still require assessment and remediation after an MSD is obtained. A designation deals with groundwater as drinking water. It does not by itself answer other pathways.
• It can reach beyond one parcel. TCEQ's certificate table gives the size of each designation in acres, and a designation can cover several addresses. Check whether the property is inside the designated area, not only whether it shares an address with the applicant. For the same reason, a designation on a neighboring property is worth reading too.

The statute is Texas Health and Safety Code sections 361.801 to 361.808. Eligibility criteria are in section 361.803.

What the record shows

TCEQ's certificate table lists, for each designation: the application number, the applicant, the city and county, the location, the size in acres, the status, and the certification date. Statuses in the table are Under Review, Certified, Denied and Withdrawn. Only Certified means a designation exists. The certificate itself can be viewed or downloaded from the table. TCEQ notes that the application number usually matches the certificate number but not always.

Where to look a site up

• TCEQ's Search for Municipal Setting Designation Certificates page holds the table. TCEQ gives 512-239-2282 for questions.
• TCEQ's Remediation Documents Search Portal shows receipt and submittal data for the last five years of incoming and outgoing documents for the MSD program and four other cleanup programs.

Getting the file

TCEQ offers three routes to its records: TCEQ Records Online for records already scanned, an email to the Central File Room (cfrreq@tceq.texas.gov) to view or copy paper and microform records, and a Public Information Request for records that are not available through the file room or that contain confidential information.

Sources

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality pages, read September 30, 2026:

• Municipal Setting Designations, last modified August 3, 2026.
• Search for Municipal Setting Designation Certificates, last modified September 2, 2026.
• Remediation Program Descriptions, last modified July 17, 2026.
• Remediation: Cleaning up Contaminated Sites, last modified March 18, 2026.
• Access Records from our Central File Room, last modified July 17, 2026.