Texas’s $20 Billion Water Fund Approved by Voters

By Paisley Porter

Reporting Texas

Earlier this month, Texas voters approved Proposition 4, a bill that dedicates $1 billion annually to the Texas Water Fund for the next 20 years. 

The Texas Water Fund is a specialized fund established by the state treasury that supports water infrastructure projects, including desalination, wastewater treatment and the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas.

The new initiative will help communities address their growing water needs by targeting some of the state’s significant challenges, from finding new sources of water to preparing for future droughts and floods.

“Proposition 4 funding will allow us to stretch our capital delivery dollars to reduce borrowing costs,” said Joseph Gonzales, deputy director of business services for Austin Water. “It will allow us to deliver critical infrastructure projects to continue to provide safe and reliable water and wastewater infrastructure today and for future generations.”

Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy, describes it a bit simpler.

“It dedicates just one billion dollars in existing state sales taxes for 20 years to the Texas Water Fund,” he said.  

But statewide, the need is massive. Experts estimate that $154 billion is needed over the next 50 years to secure water supplies. 

“Some people call this just a drop in the bucket, but we look at Proposition 4 and see that it’s a meaningful down payment on what needs to be done for our water future,” Mazur said.

Though this is a start, with the $134 billion need remaining, researchers like Justin Thompson with the University of Texas at Austin remind Texans that the fight isn’t over.

“Even with this new funding, the amount of water infrastructure work that we would need to do in Texas to be ready for a drought of record and meet our water demand in the next year or in ten years or in 20 years,” he paused. “This is not enough to cover it.”

With billions at stake, Austin is already outlining their priorities.

“One of our priority projects would likely be expanding our reclaimed water system, which takes recycled water and distributes it throughout the city for non-potable purposes,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales said that this is a big deal because every gallon of reclaimed water reduces the amount the city has to draw from lakes like Lake Austin and Lake Travis—popular destinations for Austinites. 

So how will this $1 billion be spent?

“The legislature is generally concerned about water supplies,” Mazur said. “They recognize that we’re a drought-prone state, and we’re a growing state. You need to have water supplies to meet both these challenges.”

This funding will be broken down into two main parts. 50% will be allocated to water supplies, including permitted reservoirs, desalination plants, water recycling and reuse. The other 50% will go toward fixing the state’s aging drinking water and wastewater systems, which cause problems such as leaky pipes or even boil water notices.

The proposition doesn’t take effect until 2027, and funding won’t be available until 2029. In the meantime, the legislature approved $2.5 billion in funding for water infrastructure to provide a jumpstart on the work that needs to be done.