TWDB provides financial assistance commitments to rural communities Posted on March 12, 2025
During its February Board meeting, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) authorized more than $35 million in grant funding from the Texas Water Fund for 10 water loss mitigation projects in communities with populations fewer than 1,000.
The TWDB is first focusing on projects that address water conservation and water loss through the Rural Water Assistance Fund (RWAF), as outlined in its Texas Water Fund implementation plan.
“The citizens of Texas voted for a billion dollars for water infrastructure and supply projects, and it’s great to be sending over $35 million to these communities,” said TWDB Chairwoman L’Oreal Stepney. “This is a really big deal, and we’re excited.”
The RWAF is designed to provide rural water utilities operating in communities of fewer than 10,000 people with low-cost, long-term financing for water and wastewater projects. The inclusion of funding from the Texas Water Fund allowed the TWDB to offer these rural systems financial assistance as 90–100 percent grant funding.
The implementation plan identifies $195 million in financial assistance through the RWAF and stipulates that some funding will be prioritized according to disadvantaged eligibility and other technical criteria, a reserve of funds for construction-ready projects, and an allocation for high-risk or high-need projects.
Keith Kindle, vice president at Enprotec/Hibbs & Todd, Inc., and representative for grant recipients City of Matador and Arimak Water Supply Corporation, addressed the Board at its February meeting. “To quickly turn around another legislative initiative the way y’all have done and to organize it in the fashion that you have, with the populations mentioned and the grant and loan assistances available to accomplish the objectives, is really impressive,” he said.
Grants and loans for 11 more water loss mitigation projects totaling $35,454,275 for communities between 1,000 and 10,000 people are up for Board approval during the TWDB’s March 13 meeting. Should those 11 projects be authorized, the TWDB will have committed funding to 21 of the 54 RWAF-eligible projects on the project prioritization list.
For more information about the Rural Water Assistance Fund, visit the TWDB website.
The 88th Texas Legislature provided for the creation of the Texas Water Fund in 2023, a special fund to be administered by the TWDB.
The Texas Water Fund was approved by Texas voters through Proposition 6 on the November 2023 constitutional amendment ballot, which authorized a $1 billion appropriation to fund water infrastructure upgrades, innovative water supply projects, and a statewide water public awareness program. Of the $1 billion appropriated to the Texas Water Fund, the TWDB must allocate a portion of that money for water loss mitigation and water conservation projects.
For more information about the Texas Water Fund, visit the TWDB website.
This article is posted in Financial Assistance / Water Supply / Conservation .