“Water is one of the most urgent and important things for Texas right now. ... If you have people, you need water,” Potter said. “The people individually need water, and then all the infrastructure that comes with them needs water.”
The details
Texas gained about 1,500 people per day in 2023-24, Potter said. Most of that growth occurs when people move to Texas from other states or countries, he explained, and birth rates also contribute.
“When we grow from migration, that's what puts stress on our infrastructure,” Potter said.
Just outside Texas’ urban population centers, suburban counties—such as Montgomery, Tarrant and Williamson—have experienced the most growth due to migration in recent years, according to data from the Texas Demographic Center.
Communities need support from the state to meet their water needs, Rep. Caroline Harris Davila, R-Round Rock, said Dec. 12. The Williamson County lawmaker said some cities in her district have 100-year-old water pipes.
“Those cities need all the help they can get, and they've never had the tax base to prepare for this type of growth. ... A lot of the people that work in Austin are going to live in those areas, and they need that infrastructure just as much as the businesses moving into that part of town,” Harris Davila said during a panel hosted by the Austin Chamber.
Zooming out
Texas population growth is expected to start slowing down, Potter said Jan. 28, due in part to declining birth rates.
That is a good thing, he said, because it will allow the state to “breathe and catch up” with its infrastructure needs.
“I'm not anticipating that we're going to decline—we’re going to continue to grow, but not quite as fast,” Potter said. “I certainly know this legislative session, water is a big issue, so hopefully we'll be getting some significant resources... and we’ll get caught back up to where we're not feeling stressed about water, and actually, the same thing is true for power and for transportation.”
Legislative approach
Gov. Greg Abbott named investments in water infrastructure an emergency priority during his biennial State of the State address Feb. 2. Declaring emergency priorities allows lawmakers to bypass a constitutional rule preventing them from passing legislation before the 60th day of the legislative session—March 14.
“We will put Texas on a path to have plenty of water for the next 50 years,” Abbott said during his speech at Arnold Oil in East Austin. “We will make the largest investment in water in the history of Texas. We will tap into new water supplies and repair pipes to save billions of gallons of water each year.”
Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, has spearheaded a multibillion-dollar plan to help local utilities purchase more water and upgrade their infrastructure.
The plan includes creating a dedicated funding stream for the Texas Water Fund, according to Perry and Abbott. It could mirror the state highway fund, which is bankrolled by several sources, including vehicle registration fees, oil and natural gas taxes.
Speaking Jan. 29 at the Water for Texas conference, Perry said he aimed to file the proposal, Senate Bill 7, this week.
Water, transportation and energy make up a “three-legged stool” of Texas’ top infrastructure needs, Perry said.
“[Water] is the last piece of the three-legged stool and when we get it right, y’all will never have to worry about living anywhere but Texas,” Perry said.
