Gov. Greg Abbott is said to be exploring a plan to buy water from Houston and send it to West Texas — a potentially contentious idea that comes as he has teased “totally transformative” measures in the upcoming legislative session aimed at keeping the state from going dry.
Mayor John Whitmire told the Houston Chronicle that the governor called him to discuss the state purchasing “excess” water from the city — an idea Whitmire said he is open to if it means Houston can get much-needed infrastructure funding.
“He called me and said, ‘Would you consider selling your excess water to the state that we then sell to West Texas?’” Whitmire said in an interview. “We get monies for our infrastructure. They get their water. It would be a win-win.”
Conversations between the city and state began sometime in the fall, said Greg Eyerly, director of Houston Water. Houston produces 183 billion gallons annually and supplies it to millions of Southeast Texas residents, as well as infrastructure critical to the state like the ship channel and refineries.
Communities and businesses that operate in the Permian Basin have been clamoring for access to more water as their aquifers run low after decades of largely unrestricted drilling. And data centers for AI and cryptocurrency that are cropping up around the state need vast supplies of water to cool their servers.
But the idea of moving water across the state has long faced pushback from some state lawmakers, including advocates in East Texas who worry about draining the region’s lakes and reservoirs. And according to a recent State Water Plan, the 15-county region that includes Houston could face a water shortage for municipal needs by 2030.
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In September, Abbott told a gathering of local officials in South Texas — a region facing significant water needs — that “substantial conversations” were already underway with lawmakers about bills that would be “totally transformative” for the state’s water supply.
“We’re working on plans to ensure that we will be water plenty way past 2050,” Abbott said, without offering details. “This is going to be a generational-type approach to comprehensive water development across the state.”
A report filed last month by a state Senate committee said the chamber “must act to address water supply shortages soon in order to avert serious consequences.”
Whitmire said the city could build new reservoirs to hold water it sells to the state, and in exchange, the city could receive funding to help shore up its crumbling infrastructure. Houston needs about $15 billion in estimated water fixes alone, Eyerly said – some of which the city is obligated under an agreement with the federal government to complete. Houston has lost 36 billion gallons of water due to leaky pipes in the past two years – enough to supply the 900,000-person city of Fort Worth with water for a year.
Local leaders have long cited a need for repairs to the Houston water system, namely pipes and the rebuilding of an entirely new East Water Purification Plant, which supplies 65% to 70% of city residents with water.
Local officials could try to use the water infrastructure demands as a bargaining chip with Abbott.
Josh Sanders, Whitmire’s head of intergovernmental affairs, said the administration is still determining what the city needs for its water infrastructure. Projects like pipe replacement, new pump stations that treat water for the ship channel and for chemical plants on the southeast side, and emergency water for the Texas Medical Center could all be on the table.
Let me start by saying some of these numbers are confusing. Early on there’s a sidebar link to an earlier Chron story titled “Houston needs $4.93 billion for water repairs. Will Texas lawmakers help pay the bill?“, but Houston Water director Greg Eyerly is saying the price tag is $15 billion. To me, the starting point for any negotiations about this is the state picking up most if not all of the tab to fix these problems. There’s a big difference between $5 billion and $15 billion, though, so especially if the actual cost is on the higher end, Houston should expect to be on the hook for some of it. Let’s see how good we are at these negotiations.
One thing that fixing the system would accomplish is we’d stop losing all of that water to leaks. This story cites a 36-billion gallon loss for 2023, and a story from 2022 said “Houston lost nearly 20 billion gallons of water from January to August of this year”, so we are talking massive amounts of water that we’re losing along the way. Addressing that would make any plan to sell water elsewhere a lot more palatable. So what will the state do for us?
And yes, if they do play ball here, I would consider it a win for Whitmire’s make-nice-with-the-state-overlords approach. There are times when I’m happy to be proven wrong, and this would be one of them.
One more thing:
Charles Perry, a Republican from Lubbock who has long pushed for more state investment in water infrastructure, said he plans to introduce a bill in the coming weeks that would dedicate state dollars to new supply projects like marine desalination. Rather than leaving water funding to local jurisdictions, Perry said, lawmakers need to “move to a statewide infrastructure conversation, just like we do roads and bridges.”
But it’s still unclear whether Houston has the water to spare. While the city may have plenty of water, Perry questioned whether the region has enough to supply other parts of the state. Parts of Harris County and surrounding counties already face water shortages, he said.
Perry, however, said Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have both asked whether work could be done to collect flood water from the San Jacinto River and other waterways that could be sent to other parts of the state.
“The conversation early on was, ‘Can we help the flooding in Houston by diverting this water and creating a new supply?’ And I’ve said absolutely, and always have said that,” Perry said.
If Houston were to show that it does have plenty of excess water, Perry said, the state should consider it.
Desalination, both of brackish groundwater and of water from the Gulf of Mexico, has been a topic of interest for over a decade. There are issues with that approach, such as “what do you do with all that salt”, but it’s on the menu of possibilities. I’d still like to get Houston’s issues addressed, whatever else we do.
I’m mindboggled on this one. The infrastructure needed to move the volume of water we’re talking about, from the HTX area to West Texas, would take 100 years to construct (when you factor in the timeframe associated with the lawsuits along the way).
There’s a reason why few people live in Loving County (for example) – lack of water and the ability to grow crops and raise livestock. To quote Sam Kinison, ‘You live in a f**kin’ desert ! You live in a desert !”.
Greg Abbott… good grief.
Would be curious to see how this is different than all the usual suggestions when we talk about water (flood) mitigation. Someone always suggests pumping it westward, and always all the City engineers wax on about how difficult and expensive it is to build (as well as taking 100 years to complete).
But also, anytime the state starts a conversation with houston that sounds like it might be beneficial … I don’t believe it. “It’s a trap!” Is running really loudly for me right now.