Texas Water Development Board releases State Flood Assessment

For immediate release. Contact: Media Relations at 512-463-5129

AUSTIN – (December 13, 2018) – The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today released the State Flood Assessment, a report to the Texas Legislature and the culmination of more than a year of outreach and research. The report includes TWDB’s recommendation to the legislature for statewide flood mitigation efforts.

To develop the final report, the TWDB compiled stakeholder feedback from online surveys and workshops held around the state. The TWDB also incorporated public comments received on the draft report.

Informed by stakeholder-identified priorities resulting from the process, the TWDB recommends that the 86th Texas Legislature pursue proactive statewide flood mitigation by developing a foundation of flood risk management policies and goals. These would include improved flood mapping and modeling; coordinated watershed-based planning; and mitigation efforts, such as policy changes, increased technical assistance, and financial assistance.

Stakeholders identified as their top priority financial assistance to implement mitigation activities. The information gathered from stakeholders provided a very preliminary estimate of a statewide flood funding shortfall of $18–$26.6 billion. The total need is estimated at $31.5–$36 billion, but part of those costs may be met by potential funding available from local, state, or federal programs. Because the state does not have a systematic method for identifying and calculating flood mitigation costs, the estimate is only a starting point for determining future financial needs. The figure also does not reflect large federal projects nor the cost of recovering from flood events.

The TWDB is the state agency charged with collecting and disseminating water-related data, assisting with regional planning, and preparing the state water plan for the development of the state’s water resources. The TWDB administers cost-effective financial assistance programs for the construction of water supply, wastewater treatment, flood control, and agricultural water conservation projects.