Texas lawmakers are backing a $1 billion proposal to develop new water sources as demand grows and regional tensions rise. Voters may decide in November.
Texas lawmakers plan to ask statewide voters a billion-dollar question. It's part of the state's quest for more water before regional water wars spring up across the state.
Senate Bill 7 passed the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, and Rural Affairs unanimously Monday afternoon. The idea would dedicate a billion dollars in future state sales tax to new water projects. It's expected to pass the entire legislature this spring as one of Gov. Greg Abbott's emergency items.
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WATCH HEREFor years, water advocates in the business community have asked for upgrades.
“The American Society of Civil Engineers just recently downgraded our groundwater and wastewater infrastructure. Our systems went from a C-minus to a D-plus and our wastewater systems went from a solid D down to near failing, a D-minus,” said Jeremy Mazur, from the advocacy group Texas 2036.
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SIGN UP Monday, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, said only two of the 16 water regions across the state reported they will have enough water supply to meet longtime goals in the statewide water plan.
We've already seen signs of region-on-region feuds. The latest has broken out in the intense negotiations between water districts in the Metroplex trying to buy more water from East Texas lakes. Locals there have fought against selling water west and building a new reservoir that would supply the growing city.
“It has to be new supply, plain and simple. We cannot move water from one part of the state to the other, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and not create volume increase for people to actually have new supply,” said Perry.
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The solution, per Perry, is to expand the pool of water across the state, using a billion dollars a year to tap into current reservoirs and build new ones.
If and when it passes the legislature, voters will have to sign off on changes in the Texas Constitution this November.
