Texas Water Infrastructure "consists of what is built to pump, divert, transport, store, treat, and deliver safe drinking water. In the United States, this infrastructure consists of vast numbers of groundwater wells, surface-water intakes, dams, reservoirs, storage tanks, drinking-water facilities, pipes, and aqueducts ." ^[1]

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Rivers and Reservoirs

Aquifers

Aquifers^[2] are one of “the most important sources of water on Earth, containing 96% of our liquid fresh water.” This resource is embedded between layers of rock under the surface. It is usually brought up through either natural springs or man-made pumps. What is not underground can be found on the surface through wetlands, rivers or lakes.

Although fresh water can be obtained almost anywhere the most beneficial are found to be in areas with sandstone or limestone. “ Ground water^[3] moves more readily through these materials, which allows for faster pumping and other methods of extracting water.” Water Found in aquifers has been building beneath Earth’s surface for an estimate as long as 10,000 years from centuries of rainfall and snow. Texas alone has 9 major and 21 minor aquifers that contribute to the 60% of its population’s water supply. The 9 major aquifers include Pecos Valley, Seymour, Gulf Coast, Carrizo-Wilcox, Hueco-Mesilla Bolsons, Ogallala, Edward’s –Trinity (Plateau), Edwards (Balcones Fault Zone) and Trinity.

Edward’s Aquifer falls directly under Central- West Texas, encompassing 11 counties and 4530 square miles. This aquifer’s recharge zone falls along the Balcones Fault line. This follows through US Highway 90 from North Austin down through San Antonio. This recharge zone is where surface water enters into the aquifer. According to the Houston Advanced Research Center and Gulf Coast HARC it has a unique physical structure and refers to it as a karst aquifer^[4] ” resulting in highly sensitive environmental areas that provide habitat to 14 different threatened and endangered species. Also its permeability, especially during times of drought, can cause conditions in the springs to quickly reduce to environmentally detrimental levels.

Drought

Drought has been the major issue for Texas water infrastructure for many years now. When the drought started so has some debate. Some suggest, it began in 2008 ^[5] while others suggest the drought begain in 2010^[6] . None-the-less, there is no debate regarding the impact the drought has had on Texas.

Several groups have proposed that Texas’s large oil fracking industry is part of the water shortage, since the process of fracking involves contaminating water under the surface in order to extract oil and gas from far under the surface^[7] . When this is done part of our water supply ends up becoming contaminated and unusable to agriculture, wildlife and human consumption.

In 2013 the Texas Legislature, recognizing the efforts were needed in order to address the water infrastructure issues in Texas, passed House Bill 4. “ The measure, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature, sets up a system for Texas to provide loans for projects such as reservoirs, wells and conservation efforts. Lawmakers passed a separate proposal to draw $2 billion from the state's rainy-day fund to help finance the loans.“^[8]

Legislation

Texas voters approved Proposition 6, also known as HB4, on Nov. 5, 2013. This legislation enables the state to create the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) and the State Water Implementation Revenue Fund for Texas (SWIRFT). These two funds are designed to make financing water projects more affordable and to provide ongoing state financial assistance for water supplies.^[9]

The funds created through SWIFT will help communities develop and optimize water supplies at cost-effective interest rates. The SWIFT provides the economic opportunity for communities to overcome the upfront costs on water infrastructure that often make it difficult for them to build what they need this hurdle by providing low-cost, flexible financing options for water projects. This financial assistance will enable local communities to begin needed water projects.

The HB4 legislation also specifies that not less than 10 percent of the funds go to projects serving rural communities and agricultural conservation projects and not less than 20 percent of the funds go to water conservation and reuse projects. The state water plan has identified projects intended to help avoid catastrophic conditions during a drought, but rising costs for local water providers, the capital-intensive investment required to implement large-scale projects, and the financial constraints on some communities necessitate a dedicated source of funding to help develop those projects.

The 2012 state water plan includes the cost of water management strategies and estimates of state financial assistance required to implement them. It also details economic losses likely to occur if these water supply needs cannot be met.

About 34 percent of the water would come from conservation and reuse, about 17 percent from new major reservoirs, about 34 percent from other surface water supplies, and the remaining 15 percent from various other sources.

Cities, counties, water districts, river authorities, irrigation districts, regional water authorities, and nonprofit water supply corporations across Texas are all eligible to use TWDB's financial assistance programs to address implementation of state water plan projects.

References