A $20 billion effort to avoid calamity: Here’s what Texas lawmakers did to save the state’s water supply

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Texas lawmakers took steps big and small to help save the state’s water supply.

A big one: investing $20 billion in water projects over the next two decades. A small one: banning homeowners’ associations from punishing residents who don’t have bright green lawns.

The state’s water supply is in peril. Legislators saw this year as their last chance to invest before the state faces calamity. Rapid population growth, aging infrastructure and extreme climate events like drought and flood have put pressure on the state’s lakes and rivers. A Texas Tribune analysis found that cities and towns could be on a path toward a severe water shortage by 2030 if there is recurring, record-breaking drought conditions across the state, and if water entities and state leaders fail to put in place key strategies to secure water supplies.

“One of the great things about the legislative session around water is it is more of a bipartisan issue,” said Jennifer Walker, director for the Texas Coast and Water program with the National Wildlife Federation. “And there's a great community of folks working together to find solutions.”

Here’s a look at some of the actions lawmakers took on water.

Wins for local water supply

A significant victory was House Bill 29 by Rep. Stan Gerdes, R-Smithville, which targets water loss in large utilities with over 150,000 service connections. The bill requires regular water loss audits, external validation of the data, and the development of mitigation plans. Utilities that fail to comply face administrative fees.

“We need to make sure that we are using the water supplies that we already have as efficiently as possible,” Walker said.

A recent report by the National Wildlife Federation found that 516 water utilities plan to save over 270,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2034 — enough water to meet the annual water needs of 1.7 million Texans — through conservation strategies like leak detection and minimizing water loss.

Another bill, House Bill 517 by Rep. Caroline Harris Davila, R-Round Rock, prohibits homeowners’ associations from penalizing residents for having brown or dormant lawns when water use is restricted. This bill would ensure that homeowner associations participate in water conservation measures. It was signed by the governor and goes into effect Sept. 1.

One bill by Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa seeks to address flood mitigation and drought concerns. Senate Bill 1967 expands what kinds of projects that can be awarded money from the flood infrastructure fund. Starting Sept. 1, money will be eligible for projects that construct multi-purpose flood mitigation systems and drainage infrastructure systems to use flood, storm and agricultural runoff water as an additional source of water supply once it’s treated.

This bill will be especially helpful in South Texas, where there is ongoing drought and a rapidly growing population. The Delta Region Water Management Project, which Chuy discussed during legislative hearings, aims to address its water problems by capturing and treating water.

Senate Bill 1253 by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, requires local subdivisions to provide credits for water and wastewater impact fees, which are one-time charges to a company developing in an area. The fees will be waived for new developments that incorporate conservation and reuse strategies. The goal, Walker said, is to encourage smarter growth that puts less of a strain on existing water infrastructure. This bill is awaiting the governor’s signature.

Protection for groundwater

Lawmakers approved $7.5 million to support groundwater conservation districts in collecting better data and conducting scientific research. Groundwater — water that is trapped between rock formations under ground — makes up more than half of Texas’ overall water supply. The state water plan projects a decline by 32% by 2070, which will make water even more scarce for communities that depend on groundwater.

The Texas Water Development Board, the state agency that oversees Texas’ water supply and funding, will administer grants to local groundwater districts — particularly those with limited budgets — to carry out projects focused on groundwater modeling, data collection, and science-based planning. Vanessa Puig-Williams, senior director of climate resilient water systems at Environmental Defense Fund, said Texas lacks localized data that helps groundwater districts understand how to manage and plan.

“This kind of information would allow them to make better permitting decisions, better planning decisions as part of the desired future condition process, and helps to improve our regional water planning process,” Puig-Williams said.

She added that 68% of Texas’ groundwater conservation districts operate on annual budgets under $500,000 and have struggled to fund robust scientific research.

In a related move, the Legislature also included a provision in the new infrastructure package that restricts public funds from being used to export fresh groundwater from rural areas — aimed at protecting local aquifers and the communities that depend on them.

More regulation to keep water sources clean

Lawmakers also took strides toward ensuring the quality of Texas’ water is protected. House Bill 3333 by state Rep. Eddie Morales prohibits the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from issuing new wastewater discharge permits into The Devils River in Val Verde County. The river contributes 30% to Lake Amistad, which supplies water to the Rio Grande River.

Senate Bill 1302, by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, brings more changes for the state’s environmental agency. Currently, if a facility or entity has its permit to dispose of wastewater suspended due to violations, they can later reapply through the system and get an automated approval. Kolkhorst called it a loophole. Beginning Sept. 1, Texas law will prohibit these facilities from obtaining a discharge permit until it is actively authorized by the TCEQ executive director.

The bill also prohibits the executive director from using an automatic process to authorize the use of a general permit. Kolkhorst referenced a sand mine discharging waste into the water at Cook’s Conservatory and how the permit was denied. However, it was later secured through the same process.

Research bills fail to make progress

Even as lawmakers showed interest in solutions for the water crisis, several bills researching different methods died in the legislative process.

One is House Bill 1501 by state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington. The bill would have instructed the Texas State University Meadows Center for Water and the Environment to study the feasibility of seawater desalination processes.

House Bill 3728 by Rep. Penny Morales Shaw, D-Houston, which would have required salinity studies and standards to protect coastal bays and estuaries from seawater desalination, failed to pass. Walker said it highlighted growing concerns about the environmental impacts of desalination.

“It’s a delicate balance,” Walker said. “If we screw it up, we risk having problems with the habitat for the plants and animals that are there — and it may be difficult or expensive or impossible to fix. We need to go in with our eyes wide open and make good choices so we can have water for our communities without damaging our coastal ecosystems.”

Disclosure: Environmental Defense Fund has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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