House Committee Passes Water Funding Bill

Environment Texas

Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger released the following statement:

 “Like most water issues, this is a case of a glass half full and a glass half empty. On the one hand, the bill would support a major boost in funding for water conservation and re-use. On the other, the bill directs 80 percent of the funding towards projects that can harm our rivers, streams and climate.

Texas has tremendous potential to cut water waste through repairs to leaking water mains, improved efficiency in agricultural irrigation, and better practices in the energy industry. HB 4 would provide loans to help Texas farmers, businesses and residents take advantage of this potential and save water. Conservation is the cheapest, fastest and most environmentally responsible way to meet our future water needs. According to the State Water Plan, 34 percent of our future water needs will be met by conservation and reuse, a figure that likely understates our true potential. Yet, HB 4 sets aside only 20 percent of funding for conservation.

 Meanwhile, the vast majority of the funding would support projects that would have real and serious environmental consequences. The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir would flood 30,000 acres of increasingly rare bottomland forest. Water diversion from our rivers can decrease freshwater flows into our estuaries, which are breeding grounds for birds and fish. And desalination plants produce massive amounts of waste in the form of brine and they are energy intensive, which adds to the strain of our already overburdened electric grid, increasing water consumption and air pollution. 

The bill fails to direct the water board to consider the environmental impacts of these projects in their funding decisions. And despite an order this week by a federal judge directing Texas to do more to protect the endangered whooping crane, the bill provides no money to purchase water rights to protect the cranes and our rivers.

We also urge the Legislature to maintain citizen and landowner protections in permitting. Several bills have been filed to fast track the permitting process and erode citizen rights.

Environment Texas will continue to work with legislators to improve the bill.”