Texas faces consequences if state doesn’t address water crisis, experts say

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Texas faces severe consequences if the state does not address its water crisis, a panel of advocates and experts said Wednesday.

The Texas Tribune held an event Wednesday in Longview to discuss the state’s water crisis and solutions that have been proposed across the state. One of the solutions is to pump billions of dollars into addressing a slew of problems, as state lawmakers are asking voters to approve $10 billion in new spending over the next decade.

This money would go toward mending failing and aging drinking water and wastewater systems and creating new water supplies for the state.

The money would be added to the Texas Water Fund, which voters approved the creation of in November 2023. Texas voters will have the final say on whether the state should spend that money to fix the state’s water supply next month.

Jeremy Mazur, director of infrastructure and natural resources policy for Texas 2036, said there is a combination of factors affecting water systems, including population growth, economic growth, declining water supplies and the threat of ongoing droughts. Mazur said at the event that the Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott connected these dots this year and what reliable water infrastructure means for the future of Texas.

“The Legislature approved the largest water infrastructure funding package in recorded history, even going back to the 1950s,” Mazur told the Longview crowd. “Now, the fight’s not over.”

Kelley Holcomb, general manager of the Angelina and Neches River Authority, explained that while East Texas may not struggle with water supply, as it’s one of the wetter regions of the state, it does have problems with failing infrastructure. There are 526 retail public water supplies in the river authority’s 17-county jurisdiction, and, Holcomb said, between 80 to 90 of those water systems are either at risk of failure or have already failed.

It will take a lot of time and money to fix those problems. In the meantime, Holcomb said boil water notices have become the norm in East Texas.

“Our initial estimate is half a billion dollars just to deal with the infrastructure side, not water supply, for the Neches River Basin,” Holcomb said.

Janice Bezanson, senior policy director at Texas Conservation Alliance, discussed the potential problems with new water supply projects and how they could impact East Texas in particular. She explained new reservoirs are being proposed, and the water planning region that covers the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and the counties around it, have eyed water in East Texas to send to the region. This would be in addition to 50 proposed groundwater wells in the region, with the water going to the DFW region.

Bezanson said this would have an enormous impact on East Texas.

“They’re proposing to build reservoirs, and that takes people’s land,” Bezanson said. “Water belongs to the state of Texas, but land does not; land belongs to private property owners. And they have no choice about whether to sell their land if a reservoir is approved. If they don’t sell, their land and homes will be condemned.”

Bezanson said this is creating a huge controversy and rift between the demands of urban areas and the resources these areas get from rural areas, where residents don’t have a choice in the matter.

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