Texas lawmakers to push water infrastructure upgrades to forefront of legislative agenda
(UI) — For the upcoming fiscal year, Texas is anticipated to have a record surplus. Now, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is hoping to direct some of that money toward much-needed renovations to the state's water infrastructure.
The newly established Texas House Water Caucus is working to pass legislation that will help build water infrastructure across the state, Houston Public Media (HPM) reported on Jan. 17. Leaders in both legislative houses have given caucus chair Tracy King, who represents Uvalde County, their full backing.
“Myself as chairman of House Natural Resources (and) the Senate chair of the Natural Resources Committee have both expressed an interest in providing long-term assistance to communities for water infrastructure and water supply," King told HPM, "And I know the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor (have also), and I think there's a lot of support for it."
Governor Greg Abbott backed investments in water infrastructure as well.
The lower chamber's water infrastructure legislation will fall under King's House Natural Resources Committee's purview, increasing the likelihood that the caucus's favorite bills will be put to a vote on the House floor.
Providing assistance to midsized and smaller areas who lack the finances for upgrades, according to King, will be a primary focus, but larger cities like Houston will also profit, he adds.
"And they're also in a position to be able to benefit from the current programs that the (Texas) Water Development Board has in place to help cities to revitalize and refurbish their water supply and their sanitation and all the different types of water issues that they have," King told HPM.
Three times since 2020, there have been prolonged water shortages in Houston. Most recently, a power loss at one of the city's primary water filtration plants generated concerns about potential pollutants in the water system, leading to a boil water alert that lasted for the greater part of two days in November.
More than 30 people from different political backgrounds make in the new House Water Caucus, including five state representatives from the Houston region: Armando Walle, Charles Cunningham, Jolanda Jones, Jacey Jetton, and Senfronia Thompson.
"My goal is, with this record amount of dollars that we will have this coming session, that we spend those dollars on human capital, on the infrastructure of opportunity for our citizens," Walle told HPM.
However, any assistance from the 88th Legislature is most likely to fall short of meeting the state's urgent demands for water infrastructure. According to the Texas Rural Water Association, fixing all of the state's infrastructure would cost $330 billion, whereas only fixing infrastructure that is more than 40 years old would cost $190 billion.
“We have to work in tandem with our federal partners under the Clean Water Act, under our state partners with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and obviously with our local municipalities,” Walle told HPM.
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