Voters Approve Prop 4 - Dedicating $20B to Water Infrastructure

Texans on Tuesday delivered a watershed moment for water infrastructure funding. The constitutional amendment contained in Proposition 4 delivers a water policy win that is almost three decades in the making. This amendment dedicates up to $1 billion of sales tax revenue per year from 2027-2047 to the Texas Water Fund for water, wastewater, and flood infrastructure projects. 

“Prop 4 is the culmination of almost 30 years of bipartisan work to create reliable and predictable funding for Texas water,” said Texas Water Foundation CEO Sarah Rountree Schlessinger. “We are thrilled that Texans showed up, asked deep questions, and that they chose to prioritize water infrastructure needs across the state. That tells you a lot about the state of Texas water.”

Despite this hopeful outcome, Texas’ current water funding assistance remains oversubscribed and Texas water infrastructure funding needs remain significant. In addition to the funding that the Texas Water Fund will now receive from the constitution, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) typically provides annual allotments to Texas’ drinking water and clean water revolving funds. Those have been reduced in recent years to pay for congressional earmarks, and the White House proposed slashing these by nearly 90 percent in May 2025.

Between the State Water Plan, the State Flood Plan, and the EPA’s 20-year needs surveys for drinking water and wastewater, Texas has over $200 billion of identified water infrastructure funding needs within the next 50 years. Similar to the imbalance of supply and demand for water resources, supply and demand of financial support to meet those water infrastructure needs remains unbalanced.

“Here is what makes the type of funding Prop 4 creates so impactful: financing water infrastructure typically takes the form of low-interest loans, which are repaid over a long period of time through the ratepayer. Funding like Prop 4 means that Texans will pay less when water infrastructure improvements are financed through Texas Water Development Board loans. And as the loans are repaid, funds from those payments can then be turned around to support more water infrastructure projects in the future,” said Texas Water Foundation CEO Sarah Rountree Schlessinger.

Texas’ water needs are large, growing, and multifaceted. While parts of the state at times deal with torrential floods, others go dry in droughts that can stretch on for years. Approval of Prop 4 is a big step in the right direction for water infrastructure, but there is more work to be done and hard choices ahead. The Texas Water Foundation will remain a trusted resource to support these conversations amongst policymakers and the public.