Texas Water Board details how it will spend $1 billion for water infrastructure projects

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

ODESSA — Texas last week began dividing $1 billion in taxpayer approved money among different types of water infrastructure and supply projects.

Most of the money will go toward low-interest loan programs to help cities and water systems upgrade drinking water systems and water conservation projects.

At least $45 million will be reserved for communities with fewer than 1,000 residents. And about $130 million will go to towns with 1,001 and 10,000 residents. The Texas Water Development Board, the agency responsible for the state’s water supply and managing this money, also set aside $20 million for high-risk projects.

Texas is losing billions of gallons of water each year due to outdated water infrastructure. Smaller rural towns that lack a taxbase are particularly behind in updating their pipes and valves. State lawmakers in 2023 asked voters to approve the $1 billion to help municipalities fix broken pipes.

While water advocates are excited for the $1 billion to begin flowing to local water systems, it will not be enough to solve the state’s water woes.

The water board said the state will have to spend $80 billion by 2070 to keep its infrastructure up-to-date, according to the 2022 water plan.

[Everything you need to know about Texas’ beleaguered water systems]

“We have a whole lot more applications that are submitted than we have capacity in any given program year to provide financial assistance,” said Kathleen Ligon, the interim executive administrator at the Water Development Board.

The water board said this week it also plans to spend up to $450 million toward existing financial assistance programs, $90 million on water loss and conservation programs, $10 million on marketing campaigns and $5 million on “educational resources and programming, data visualization tools and other initiatives” that schools can access.

The water board has already received 68 requests from cities and local water systems for this pot of money, which will be combined with existing state and federal tax dollars. The projects selected for the money will be announced in August. The board has set aside $250 million for another round of applications. It has not pushed rules on how to apply for that pool of money yet.

Communities can expect to see improvements to their systems from this new money in about a year, said Terry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network, a trade association representing public and private construction companies.

Securing workers and contractors will be a challenge for communities seeking to improve their water infrastructure, he said. Cities, counties and water districts should have a clear idea of the projects they hope to propose.

“It’s a very busy market, we have a lot of projects going on, there’s a lot of backlog,” he said.

Fowler said he hopes lawmakers find additional ways to pay for water infrastructure projects in the next legislative session, including promoting more loan based programs whose interest could go toward the Water Development Board. He said he thinks eventually, the cost of keeping up with the infrastructure will be foot by consumers.

“I think that Texans need to understand that just because of the way things are going with our water supply and infrastructure issues, your water bills are going to increase,” he said.

Big news: director and screenwriter Richard Linklater; NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher; U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California; and Luci Baines Johnson will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!