The Texas Senate unanimously passed a bill on Monday that could allocate billions of taxpayer dollars toward improving the state’s water system.
The legislation, Senate Bill 28, would create a “new water supply for Texas fund” that would pay for “water supply projects that create new water sources for the state, including … the acquisition of water from other states … desalination projects … [and] water treatment projects.”
The bill was passed alongside Senate Joint Resolution 75, which proposes “a constitutional amendment creating the Texas water fund.”
Both pieces of legislation, which will now advance to the Texas House, were authored by Texas Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock).
“Senate Bill 28 creates a pathway to funding water projects that our grandkids will be around for,” said Perry from the Senate floor on Monday, per The Texas Tribune.
Perry has reportedly said that if the state of Texas adopted the fund, billions of dollars would be allocated to it.
The fund would support “bold” water supply projects that use new technological developments and provide improvements for rural water infrastructure projects in danger of failure, according to Perry.
However, Perry did not specify the division of funds between new projects and system upgrades, as reported by The Texas Tribune.
Perry also said that “voters need to know we’re thinking about long-term water supply,” during a Senate Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee hearing on March 20.
“I would be shocked if it’s not supported in a big way,” Perry claimed.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Texas underwent the worst drought seen in a decade last summer, straining the state’s water supply, causing reservoir levels to fall to record lows, and prompting hundreds of mandatory water restrictions.
Some environmental groups are hesitant about the projects the bill would fund.
“I totally understand the need for water supply solutions in Texas,” said Alex Ortiz, water resources specialist for the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter.
Ortiz cautioned, however, that “we really have a lot of work to do, still, in terms of protecting human health, the environment, and wildlife,” per The Texas Tribune.
The Dallas Express reached out to the Dallas Sierra Club for additional comment but received no response by press time.