AUSTIN, Texas — For the first time in a decade, Texas lawmakers are focusing on water.
The ongoing drought, population increase and deteriorating infrastructure are depleting the state's water supplies – issues that the KVUE Defenders explored in November.
Now in April, the Defenders looked into one of the main water bills that lawmakers are considering to ensure Texans don't run out of access to drinking water. One community in Travis County, Summervale, is counting on the bill passing.
Warren Lockhart and his daughter, Michele Metcalf, run the High Valley Water Corporation. The company provides water to Summervale, a neighborhood off Summervale Drive in Southeast Travis County, near RM 1826.
Behind a locked gate and door sit several water and pressure tanks – and it's Lockhart's job to make sure they work. The 77-year-old retiree is the president of the High Valley Water Corporation. Every day, he reads the water meter and records it in his notebook.
"I'll subtract it from yesterday's reading, and that tells us how much water we use each day," Lockhart said.
If the number is too high, there could be problems.
"That means we got a leak somewhere. So we go drive around and find the leak," Lockhart said.
Lockhart said water leaks are common.
"This year, we hadn't had very many. I'd say last year, we've had 15 or 20," Lockhart said.
Lockhart makes so many repairs to the pipelines that he keeps dozens of pipe replacement parts on hand.
Metcalf said she pitches in as well.
"And I do help when they have water leaks," Metcalf said.
Metcalf is the water company's only full-time employee.
"I am the manager [and] bookkeeper. I take care of the bills," she said.
Both Lockhart and Metcalf said there is a solution to the ongoing issues.
KVUE's Jenni Lee asked the pair if they had newer pipes, would that prevent the leaks?
Metcalf's response: "100%. Yeah, I think it would. Yeah."
But the father-daughter duo said the water company can't afford to replace the pipes that have been around since the early 1970s. The pair turned to state and county elected leaders for help, like Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard and State Rep. Vikki Goodwin.
"There are some small pockets of neighborhoods that have private water companies, and they're just barely hanging on," Goodwin said.
Goodwin said she visited the Summervale neighborhood after a fire destroyed a mobile home in May 2022. Residents were concerned about a lack of fire hydrants.
That fire broke out next door to the High Valley Water Corporation.
"I was troubled to learn that this neighborhood doesn’t have fire hydrants nor does it have the water pipes that could support fire hydrants. The infrastructure here is inadequate and needs attention," Howard said in a statement. "While Travis County doesn’t own the infrastructure, I hope we can assist this community in accessing state and federal funding to modernize their infrastructure."
"They fall in the cracks of a community that doesn't have the resources,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin is part of the new Texas House Water Caucus, a group of more than 65 lawmakers that is focused on water issues like aging water systems and water loss.
These issues are ones that State Sen. Charles Perry said he has been working on for several years during a March Senate committee hearing.
"Estimates put this water loss between 136 billion gallons a year, and 70% of our water supply pipes are needing to be replaced or repaired," Perry said.
Perry chairs the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs and is the author of Senate Bill 28.
"SB 28 is my No. 1 priority for the session," Perry said.
SB 28, along with Senate Joint Resolution 75, would create a new Water Supply for Texas Fund. Money from the fund would go toward new water projects and infrastructure improvements, with a focus on rural communities.
"The number of boil water notices in 2022 top 3,000. Of these, 2,211 are systems with under 3,300 in population. Our small systems are suffering under lack of tax base to fix big infrastructural water system projects," Perry said.
"I think water is priority for this session," Jeremy Mazur said.
Mazur is a senior policy advisor for Texas 2036, a nonprofit public policy think tank. Mazur said the last time lawmakers focused this much on water was 10 years ago during the 2013 drought that caused billions of dollars in economic losses for the state.
During that legislative session, voters approved new funds for water supply projects.
Now in 2023, Texas is in a drought again.
"We're a land of perpetual drought visited by the occasional biblical flood," Mazur said.
Mazur points to several high-profile water incidents as another reason behind the legislative focus. In February of last year, Laredo was under a boil water notice for 13 days after corrosion caused a break in the City's main water line.
In June 2022, a mainline break in Odessa's aging water system left tens of thousands without water for 48 hours.
In November 2022, a power outage at a Houston water treatment plant forced millions under a boil water notice for 36 hours.
"The issue of aging, deteriorating and leaking water and wastewater infrastructure has certainly risen in an elevation of importance," Mazur said.
In January, Texas 2036 released its Legislative Blueprint, detailing how Texas’ water and wastewater infrastructure is at a crisis point. The report showed how water issues "are particularly acute within small, rural, and disadvantaged communities."
In October 2022, Texas 2036 conducted a voter poll that revealed 84% of voters support the Legislature’s creation of a new fund to address the problems associated with our aging, depreciating water infrastructure.
The KVUE Defenders looked at the State's water plan in November 2022. The plan estimates our population will go from 29.7 million in 2020 to 51.5 million in 2070 – an increase of 73% in the next 50 years.
Experts and lawmakers said if new water supplies aren't created, there won't be enough water for Texans.
Water loss and water leaks are issues for Austin as well.
Austin Water reported an estimated 8,031,600,000 gallons lost in 2021. Of that, an estimated 6,495,400,000 gallons were lost due to leaks.
Back in Summervale, Lockhart showed Lee the main water connection that froze on Christmas Day. Since then, Lockhart installed insulation to prevent another freeze and wrapped exterior pipes.
Lockhart and Metcalf also shared a letter they recently sent to Travis County officially asking for help. Howard's office is helping – which is the first step that could lead to funding for brand-new pipes that would keep water flowing for the 81 water customers in Summervale.
"Because you got to have water to live," Lockhart said.
SB 28 and SJR 75 were left pending in the House Committee on Natural Resources on Tuesday, April 18. Both cleared the Senate in early April.
SJR 75 adds language to the Texas Constitution that authorizes funds set out in SB 28, and must be approved by voters in November. SB 28's companion bill, House Bill 10, would also create a new water fund to create new water supplies and fix aging, leaky water systems.
HB 10 was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources in early March. According to Texas 2036, the House and the Senate have set aside different amounts for the water bills.
The Senate plans to dedicate $1 billion, whereas the House wants to spend $3 billion. A conference committee would adjust the different figures if the chambers adopt different levels of funding for the legislation.
KVUE reached out to Perry's office and the Texas Water Foundation for further comment and have yet to hear back.