Texas Water Development Board approves $275,658 to Cameron County from the Flood Infrastructure Fund for a project receiving federal grant award matching funds

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

AUSTIN – (January 28, 2021) – The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today approved financial assistance in the amount of a $275,658 grant from the Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF) to Cameron County for a local project receiving federal grant award matching funds.

With the assistance approved today, the County will address the effects of flooding in the Paso Real subdivision caused by the surrounding resaca. The project will remove overbrush in the resaca and convert it into a detention pond by constructing a weir system with a 48-inch outfall pipe to convey floodwaters into Cameron County Drainage District’s ditches to the northwest of the subdivision. The detention pond will protect and prevent floodwater from entering the subdivision and causing flooding of the residential structures.

The approved project is eligible for FIF funding under category 3, federal award matching funds, of the 2020 Flood Intended Use Plan. This category of funding was designed to leverage federal funding by assisting applicants with the required local match.

Passed by the 86th Texas Legislature and approved by voters through a constitutional amendment in 2019, the FIF was created to provide funding for drainage, flood mitigation, and flood control projects.

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