New Texas Water Fund dollars will be available by end of decade

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Texas voters approved a generational investment into water infrastructure Tuesday night after approving an additional $20 billion for the Texas Water Fund over the next two decades. However, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), which manages the fund, said the money will not be available until fall 2029.

The initiative was placed on the ballot as Proposition 4. More than 70% of the vote, a little more than 2 million people, gave the thumbs up to move forward with the investment. The money will be used to improve aging water infrastructure across the state and help fund new sources of water as the state population continues to grow.

"Texas is facing more than $200 billion in wastewater and flood infrastructure needs in the next 50 years," Sarah Kirkle, the director of policy and legislative affairs at the Texas Water Association, said. "So this $20 billion is a really important first step."

In 2023 Texas water systems cleaned and produced 1.17 trillion gallons of water. Of that, 158 billion gallons were lost to leaks – 13% of all the water produced, according to the Texas Water Development Board. The TWDB estimates the value of that water loss at over $326 million.

To put that water loss volume in perspective, 158 billion gallons – the amount lost to leaks in 2023 – is nearly half a million acre-feet, or enough to fill Lake Austin about 20 times.

Data from 2023 is the most recent statewide data available online from the Texas Water Development Board. TWDB tracks municipal water systems' losses through annual audits. 

Austin, for example, lost 9.3 billion gallons of water last year, enough for every one of the city’s quarter million water connections to leak 110 gallons per day, according to city water loss audit data.

Water loss experts who spoke with KXAN said many major cities, including Houston and San Antonio also struggle with getting their leaks under control. Going out and getting a new source of water is vastly expensive, so stopping leaks – saving water we’ve already produced – is an important effort.

"Reducing water loss offers utilities the ability to increase their water use efficiency, improve their financial status, and assist with long-term water sustainability," according to TWDB.

Kirkle said water rates continue to climb across the state as water utilities and municipalities try to fund costly and complex wastewater and water projects. "By using the state's interest rate reduction programs and by leveraging the state's interest rates, we're able to see reductions in how much those projects cost to those communities and ultimately to the ratepayers," Kirkle explained.

Voters approved an initial one-time investment of $1 billion into the Texas Water Fund in 2023. The TWDB was required to allocate no less than 25% of that money to the New Water Supply for Texas Fund.

As of September 2025, the TWDB has committed more than $735 million in funding from the Texas Water Fund through several financial assistance programs, according to a statement from an agency spokesperson. That message said 46 projects have been invited to submit full applications.

The first round of the new funding, a total of $2 billion per biennium, will have to be appropriated by the legislature in the 90th legislative session, which will take place in 2027. Once approved, the Texas Comptroller will transfer the dedicated funds to the water fund in 2028.

The funds can only be transferred if the sales tax revenue exceeds $46.5 billion in a single fiscal year. If the revenue does not reach that threshold, then no money will be transferred to the Water Fund.