Voters in Texas have approved the largest water infrastructure spending package in the state’s history.
Following the November 4 election, the state has amended its constitution to dedicate $20 billion over 20 years for “repairing aging pipes, upgrading treatment facilities, building new water supplies and implementing conservation technologies across the state,” according to the nonprofit Texas Living Waters coalition, which advocated for the amendment’s passage.
The measure follows years of dealing with deteriorated pipes, water-boil notices, drought and flooding, among other issues.
The passage of Proposition 4 dedicates $1 billion a year in state sales tax revenue to the Texas Water Fund starting September 2, 2027, and ending August 31, 2047, according to the Texas Water Development Board, which administers the fund.
Projects could start receiving the new funding by late 2029, says Texas 2036, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group. In the interim, the Legislature earlier this year passed the state’s largest one-time appropriation for water infrastructure, $2.5 billion, that will “help jump-start water infrastructure development before the sales tax revenue dedication authorized by Proposition 4 begins,” the group says.
The Legislature also requires that at least half of the water fund’s revenues go toward expanding the state’s water supply, such as “water conservation, reuse, desalination, aquifer storage, permitted reservoirs and infrastructure capacity expansion projects,” according to Texas 2036. “The remaining amount may be used for fixing aging infrastructure and developing flood protection projects.”
The Proposition 4 amendment does not come with a sales-tax increase. The money will be allocated annually only after the first $46.5 billion in sales-and-use-tax revenue for a year has been collected. If the state does not collect more than $46.5 billion in a year, then no money would go to the water fund for additional infrastructure funding that year. Revenue over the past two fiscal years has exceeded the $46.5 billion mark by more than $1 billion.
Proposition 4 was a bipartisan effort, and it passed with 70% of voters in favor.
“This is a historic moment in Texas history: a long-term, dedicated investment in securing a resource that is fundamental to life, public health, economic stability and natural ecosystems,” says Texas Living Waters coalition. “The momentum is here. Now comes the exciting and important work of putting these dollars to use in ways that build a stronger, more resilient Texas for everyone.”
