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Texas Water Development Board approves $13,100,000 to the City of Brownsville (Cameron County) from the Flood Infrastructure Fund for flood improvement projects

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

AUSTIN – (February 25, 2021) – The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today approved by resolution financial assistance in the amount of $13,100,000, consisting of $7,565,000 in financing and $5,535,000 in grant funding, to the City of Brownsville (Cameron County). The City will use the assistance from the Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF) for planning, design, and construction of flood improvement projects.

In addition to the grant funding, the City could save approximately $2,000,000 over the life of the loans by using the FIF program.

With the financial assistance approved today, the City will improve 6,400 feet of drainage ditch and increase the pumping capacity of the Impala Pump Station. The City will also construct 21 monitoring and control stations throughout the City’s resacas, construct detention pond improvements with automated overflow controls, and install several water level and rainfall data collection points to be integrated with the City’s flood model.

The approved projects are eligible for FIF funding under category 2 of the 2020 Flood Intended Use Plan. This category was designated for planning, acquisition, design, and construction activities to implement flood mitigation projects.

Passed by the 86th Texas Legislature and approved by voters through a constitutional amendment in 2019, 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.