AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Wednesday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced his priorities for 89th legislative session. Among his top 10 — a greater investment in water infrastructure across the state.
During a Q&A on the final day of the “Water for Texas 2025 Conference”, State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, spoke on the priority and his plan to include that investment as part of an upcoming joint resolution.
“I cannot in good conscience leave this place without doing whatever I was supposed to do to secure water supply,” Perry said. “This is our window, you know, this is our time to kick off some conversations about water supply long term. It won’t be here again for a long time.”
The joint resolution would see an amendment to the state constitution. The amendment would guarantee $1 billion directed toward the Texas Water Fund each year.
“Many of our programs are eight, ten times oversubscribed. And so any additional funding that the legislators see fit and the voters approve will certainly help our communities,” L’Oreal Stepney, chairwoman of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), said.
The TWDB oversees the Texas Water Fund and how its money is distributed.
“Our mission is to secure a water future for Texas. And so we use all of our financial assistance programs for water infrastructure, whether that’s drinking water infrastructure, wastewater, flood, all to provide water supply for the state of Texas,” Stepney said.
Finding funding for water
The Texas Water Fund was established during the 88th legislative session in 2023. That bill saw $1 billion set aside for TWDB to use on various projects.
Perry said getting that bill passed was a first step. Across the state capital, more and more lawmakers are recognizing the need.
“I can’t find a member that’s not interested in water today. Everybody’s talking about it, partly because the awareness we rose,” Perry said.
The state senator, who serves as chair on the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, wants to guarantee the funds are there in the future to ensure the future of the state.
“This is just like roads. We don’t even think about roads. It just happens. It’s on autopilot. This will be an autopilot,” he said.
Data Centers and Water Usage
Water usage across the state has grown with more people and businesses moving to Texas. This month, President Trump announced Texas would be the site for 10 new data centers.
A single data center can use up to 5 million gallons of water per day, according to the University of Tulsa.
Perry said that the current water plan doesn’t account for this need.
“Unfortunately, everything in water is 20 years. Some of these companies need it yesterday. So we’ll work through triage, get to where we need to be as fast as we need to be,” Perry said.
