Texas officials released a draft of their next state water plan in April, projecting that state and local governments will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to prevent a water crisis.
The three-member Texas Water Development Board voted April 16 to publish an initial draft of the 2027 State Water Plan, laying out what is needed to prepare for a future “drought of record,” when water demands are highest and supplies are lowest. The 50-year plan is updated every five years based on proposed projects and water management strategies identified by 16 regional planning groups.
The draft plan was released about five months after Texas voters approved Proposition 4, a $20 billion, two-decade state investment in water supplies and infrastructure.
“We're very excited that the Legislature and the governor made [Proposition 4] such a priority, and the whole state will benefit, certainly,” TWDB board member Ashley Morgan said April 16. “But the need is great and is continuing to grow.”
The $174 billion price tag is more than twice the cost projected in Texas’ 2022 state water plan, which was $80 billion.
What you need to know
As Texas’ population continues to grow, previous Community Impact reporting shows that water restrictions and shortages are becoming more common in areas throughout the state. At the same time, major companies are moving to Texas, and communities are contemplating large data center projects, with some residents expressing concerns about high water use in the already drought-prone state.
The water plan estimates that over 52 million people will live in Texas by 2080, up from about 31.7 million today. From 2030-2080, demand for water is expected to increase by 6%, and existing water supplies are projected to decline by 10%, according to the plan. The anticipated decline is “primarily due to depletion of aquifers,” the plan reads.
The proposed plan includes 3,000 proposed water management projects aimed at increasing Texas’ water supplies and 6,700 recommended strategies. Completing the projects and implementing the strategies would provide 2.7 million acre-feet per year in additional water supplies in 2030, according to the plan.
The recommended strategies include “significant conservation” and the development of new water supplies from multiple sources, such as aquifers, recycled water and seawater desalination.
“If strategies are not implemented over the next 50 years, approximately one out of four Texans in 2080 would have less than half the municipal water supplies they will require during a drought of record,” the plan reads.
More details
While state lawmakers can approve water supply funding, the proposed projects will be handled locally.
“It is the local sponsors who are responsible for actually implementing these projects to prepare their communities before the next drought hits,” Temple McKinnon, the TWDB’s water supply planning director, said April 16.
The plan states that the significant increase in costs from five years ago reflects inflation in construction costs, a “growing backlog” of near-term water supply projects that are in the works, lingering supply chain issues from the COVID-19 pandemic and an extension of the planning horizon from 2070 to 2080. In general, water infrastructure projects are becoming more expensive “as regions pursue more distant, complex, or marginal sources of supply,” according to the plan.
During the April 16 board meeting, Cyrus Reed, conservation director for the Lone Star Sierra Club, said state leaders need to determine how to pay for the $174 billion in proposed projects during next year’s legislative session.
“Some attention to whether you all think there's a path to pay for that huge cost, or at least some of it, and what that path is—I think it's going to be an important discussion going forward with the Legislature,” he told the board.
While the 2022 water plan anticipated that state assistance would be needed for $47 billion of the $80 billion price tag, the initial draft of the 2027 plan does not specify how much should be covered by the state.
“To be sure, some of this amount will be paid by local ratepayers, and some by the state,” Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy for Texas 2036, wrote in a blog post on the policy group’s website.
Getting involved
Texans have until 5 p.m. May 29 to submit written comments on the current draft of the water plan. Texans can also attend a public hearing on the plan at 1 p.m. May 27:
- In Room 170 of the Stephen F. Austin Building, 1700 North Congress Ave., Austin
- By videoconference
Texans interested in speaking during the hearing should fill out
this form and send it to
[email protected] by noon May 27, per the board’s website.
The TWDB will consider adopting a “more robust version” of the plan this summer, according to agency documents. State law requires that the plan be finalized by early January.
