Texas lawmakers allocated more than $2 billion to increase the state’s water supply and reduce flooding
Texans across the state are affected by declining water supplies, water infrastructure disruptions and flooding in their communities. Full Story
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![Lake Alan Henry in Garza County on April. 27, 2023, in Garza County, about 65 miles southeast of Lubbock.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
After historic drought, lawmakers agree on billion-dollar plan to expand water supplies, fix infrastructure
Following one of the hottest summers on record, lawmakers have set an ambitious target: By 2033, they want to bump up the state’s water supply by an amount equal to three of the largest reservoirs in the state. Full Story
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![One of the city's water towers stands in Wolfforth, on April 26, 2023.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Rural Texas landowners who lost water access due to San Antonio pipeline could soon get relief
Groundwater levels rapidly declined in rural Lee County after San Antonio began pumping the water and moving it 100 miles southwest. A Senate bill would help affected well owners. Full Story
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![The Vista Ridge site in Burleson County on July 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
House advances bill that could provide billions of dollars for new water projects and fixing aging infrastructure
The bill aims to create a water supply four times the size of Lake Livingston, one of the state’s largest reservoirs. But it may still be a “drop in the bucket” compared to the state’s needs. Full Story
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![Water pours into a holding pond inside Rio Grande City’s new $12 million water treatment plant. Along the Texas-Mexico border, nearly 90,000 people are believed to still live without running water. An untold number more — likely tens of thousands, but no one is sure — often have running water of such poor quality that they cannot know what poisons or diseases it might carry.]()
Credit: Spencer Selvidge for The Texas Tribune -
Everything you need to know about Texas’ beleaguered water systems
Texas has more than 7,000 water systems. A fraction of them self-reported that they lost 30 billion gallons of water due to broken pipes and leaks in 2021. Full Story
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![Water spews out of a fire hydrant as a San Antonio Water System crew works to fix a water main break near Hunt Ln. and Adams Hill in San Antonio, TX on August 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ water infrastructure is broken, jeopardizing quality and supply for a growing state
On a daily basis, water managers in cities across the state move from crisis to crisis hoping to keep the water flowing to residents. Full Story
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![Tom Bailey flushes out a water line in Zavalla on April 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Mark Felix/The Texas Tribune -
Water experts urgently call for funding to address threats to Texas infrastructure
Experts talked about how and where the state can best invest money to keep Texas water safely flowing to the public. Full Story
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Texas has the fifth-highest percentage of water pipes made of lead
In a first-of-its-kind survey of public water utilities, the EPA estimates that 7% of water lines in Texas, more than 647,000, are lead based. It’s the fifth-highest proportion of lead-based water lines in the country. Full Story
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![A dripping faucet on Feb. 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate moves to set aside billions for future water needs
The Senate on Monday passed a bill that would create a new state fund tailored for large or long-shot water supply projects, including marine desalination. The bill will advance to the House. Full Story
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![A large crack runs the length of a broken water main pipe after City of Odessa Water Distribution employees work to repair the broken line Tuesday, June 14, 2022 in Odessa. According to Mayor of Odessa Javier Joven, the line has been fixed since around 3:45 a.m. and the system is beginning to pressurize slowly.]()
Credit: Courtesy Odessa American/Eli Hartman -
Texas Senate takes first step toward establishing billions for state’s water supply, infrastructure
Voters would have the final say on whether the state sets aside billions of dollars to acquire new water sources and invest in aging infrastructure. Full Story
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![City of Zavalla Water Well #1 in Zavalla, Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023.]()
Credit: Joseph Bui for The Texas Tribune -
How a fading West Texas town has gone four years without safe drinking water
Some Toyah residents say state regulators at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality were “negligent” and want to know what took so long. The Texas attorney general has filed a lawsuit. Full Story
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![The Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Texas Law School conducted water testing at houses in Toyah in Feburary 2023.]()
Credit: Mitch Borden/Marfa Public Radio -
Black and Hispanic Texans say they don’t trust the quality of their water
A survey was commissioned by the nonprofit organization Texas Water Trade and included responses from households in both rural border communities and in urban areas across Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Full Story
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![A portable water tank at a colonia at Las Pampas, on Oct. 21, 2014.]()
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune -
A new bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers wants to highlight the state’s fragile water infrastructure
So far there has been an average of six boil-water notices a day across Texas in 2023. Full Story
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![Volunteers unload water during a water distribution and free flu vaccination event at the Holman Street Baptist Church in Houston on Nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Midland is the latest Texas city to issue a boil-water notice
Officials said the water levels at the local reservoir were too low to meet safety standards. Full Story
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![A water tower at the Midland International Air & Space Port on Jan. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
A boil-water notice in Houston made national news. In rural Texas, it’s a way of life.
Rural communities face compounding reasons they can’t improve their water infrastructure, including inflation and a lack of human resources. Full Story
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![David Wilshusen, 69, stands outside his home in Houston County, Texas on on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. (Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Houston officials say state made the call on water boil notice
For more than 24 hours, nearly everyone in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city had been asked to boil water after a power outage at a water treatment plant Sunday. Full Story
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![Isaiah Chirip helps push a pallet of bottled water during a water distribution and free flu vaccination event at the Holman Street Baptist Church in Houston on nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Houstonians say the city fumbled sounding the alarm on boil water notice
Many residents in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city heard that they couldn’t drink tap water from friends or neighbors, not from City Hall. Full Story
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![Eboni Davis and her boyfriend Jesse Holloway load water into their car outside an H-E-B grocery store in Houston on Nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Houston boil water notice forces schools to shut down
Millions of Houston residents are expected to be under a boil water notice until Tuesday after a power outage at a water treatment plant. At least four school districts canceled Monday classes. Full Story
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![A notice that customers are limited to two cases of water at a Houston HEB on Nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
An East Texas town must boil its water on Thanksgiving as officials seek a solution to aging infrastructure
Zavalla lost all water for several days. The Texas Department of Emergency Management has sent pallets of bottled water and a team to help. Full Story
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![An Ector Count resident, who declined to give their name, loads their car with cases of bottled water after the majority of Ector County was placed on a boil water notice early Tuesday, June 14, 2022 in Odessa, Texas. The resident and their partner, who also declined to give their name, stated that they had been without water since approximately 7 p.m. Monday evening. “I know I payed my water bill” one said when they were attempting to determine why they did not have any running water.]()
Credit: Courtesy Odessa American/Eli Hartman -
Texas’ plan to provide water for a growing population virtually ignores climate change
Texas’ biggest single solution to providing enough water for its soaring population in the coming decades is using more surface water, including about two dozen new large reservoirs. But climate change has made damming rivers a riskier bet. Full Story
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![Concerned residents Lindy Guest, 68, left, John Brooks, 74, center, and Jim Vignali, 70, far-right, look at a map of Red River County where the Marvin Nichols Reservoir will be located, at Cuthand United Methodist Church in Bogata, Texas, on July 26, 2022. The reservoir has been in the works for decades, but never gained momentum to start. Residents now fear a starting date is near as Texas droughts worsen, and water supply needs in the DFW metro area rapidly increase. Thousands of acres will be flooded and an estimated 60 homes will be lost.]()
Credit: Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune