What is the Texas Water Development Board?

Background

The Texas Water Development Board (in different forms) has issued nine state water plans in Texas’ history. The latest was issued in early 2012. It presented a nearly three-hundred-page analysis of Texas’ water resources, and what specific infrastructure projects could be done to manage water for Texas’ growing population.

“Water is fundamental to sustaining our people and our economy. Additional development of our water resources will be essential to provide for a rapidly expanding population and an accompanying expansion of industrial capacity,” reads the water report – the first water report, that is, the one issued in 1962. It doesn’t sound like much has changed.

The 2012 report took 5 years worth of research to complete; it includes the economic impact of ignoring its advice and suggestions to obtain the funding necessary to complete it. It might seem like an easy answer, but some Texas legislators aren’t comfortable with the big price tag. Others feel water solutions should be handled more locally.

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May 14, 2013

New Movement on Funding State Water Plan

A plan from the Texas Senate would take big decisions about funding for water and roads and put them in the hands of voters.

There’s a new push at the State Capital to pull $2 Billion dollars from Texas’ Rainy Day Fund and put it towards water projects. After a recent move in the House died on the floor in dramatic fashion two weeks ago, there were real questions on whether the water plan would get funded this legislative [...]

May 6, 2013

StateImpact Texas Talks Energy Legislation with KXAN

As the legislature enters its final weeks, what are the big energy issues still facing lawmakers? Sunday on KXAN StateImpact Texas’ Mose Buchele joined a panel to discuss how water, drilling and fracking are forcing legislators to make some tough decisions as things get down to the wire. You can watch their discussion in the video above.

February 13, 2013

As Mexico Shares Less Water With Texas, Lawmakers Watch and Worry

A footprint in the soft mud of the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

State lawmakers and agency heads discussed Mexico’s lack of water contribution to the Rio Grande River, the state of the State Water Plan and invasive species at the House Natural Resources committee meeting at the Capitol yesterday. Carlos Rubinstein, Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), said Mexico hasn’t been allowing its fair [...]

February 5, 2013

Finding Water Amid Drought: Legislature Considers Options

Texas lawmakers are looking beyond just reservoirs to find water for a thirsty, growing state.

John Nielson-Gammon, Texas’ State Climatologist, offered a grim forecast to kick off a joint House and Senate Natural Resources Committee meeting today at the Capitol. “There’s still a good chance this will end up being the drought of record for most of the state,” he said. Several officials from state agencies involved with Texas’ water [...]

For Texas Legislature, What a Difference No Rain Makes

Robert Lee Mayor John Jacobs looks out over the dry EV Spence reservoir in West Texas in Spring 2011. His town had to build a pipeline when they came in danger of running out of water.

If you happened to be in Austin last Monday, you may have noticed a sight that would have been strangely unfamiliar just two years ago: three Republican state lawmakers, calling in unison for more spending, higher prices and more restrictions for water. It represents a real about-face for the Republican majority in Texas. Last legislative [...]

February 4, 2013

Preventing the Texas Water Plan From Becoming a Boondoggle

Texas lawmakers appear to be ready to start seriously funding water development and conservation in the state. They’re looking at creating a state-run program, with billions of dollars, that would pick projects based on need and efficacy, administered by an oversight board appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House. But it [...]

January 29, 2013

Governor Joins Chorus Calling for Water Funding

The Texas Governor said "none of us can deny the need" for improved water supplies and roads.

In his biennial ‘State of the State‘ speech today, Texas Governor Rick Perry called for spending billions to fund water projects and build and repair roads, advocating for taking $3.7 billion from the Rainy Day Fund “for a one-time investment in infrastructure programs.” Current proposals in the Texas House and Senate that appear to have growing support call [...]

Water For Texas: Lawmakers Say State Needs More Than Money

State Rep. Lyle Larson (R-San Antonio) says drought restriction enforcement should be uniform throughout the state.

Two billion dollars is a lot of money. It’s also how much some state lawmakers want to spend to protect Texas from future water shortages. A lot has been made of that price tag. But when three state lawmakers sat down with StateImpact Texas at a forum in Austin last night, they also talked rulemaking. [...]

January 24, 2013

Dewhurst on Funding Water Plan: ‘There’s No Other Option’

At a Texas Tribune event this morning in Austin, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst talked with Tribune Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith about a whole host of issues facing the state, such as public education. And of course, they also talked about water. On Wednesday, State Senator Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) announced his support of a plan to [...]

January 21, 2013

How One Texas Lawmaker Wants to Fund the Water Plan

With water on the minds behind the Texas legislature, Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, the chairman of the House National Resources Committee, sat down last week to talk with the Texas Tribune about what lawmakers can do to secure new water supplies for a growing state. Ritter recently filed a fill that would take $2 billion from [...]