Texas Water Development Board

About the Texas Water Development Board The mission of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is to lead the state's efforts in ensuring a secure water future for Texas. Our mission is a vital part of Texas' overall vision and the state's mission and goals that relate to maintaining the viability of the state's natural resources, health, and economic development. The TWDB's main responsibilities are threefold: collecting and disseminating water-related data; assisting with regional water supply and flood planning that contributes to preparing the state water plan and state flood plan; and administering cost-effective financial programs for constructing water supply, wastewater treatment, flood control, and agricultural water conservation projects. Since 1957, the TWDB has been charged with addressing the state's water needs. The TWDB works to ensure Texans have access to sufficient, clean, and affordable water supplies that foster a healthy economy and environment. The TWDB - supports the development of regional water plans and incorporates them into a state water plan for the orderly and responsible development, management, and conservation of the state's water resources to ensure sufficient supplies during future droughts of record; - supports the development of regional flood plans and incorporates them into the state flood plan, the first of which is due September 1, 2024; - provides financing and/or grants to local governments for water supply projects; water quality projects including wastewater treatment and nonpoint source pollution control; flood control and mitigation projects; agricultural water conservation projects; economically distressed, rural, and small community water and wastewater projects; and expenses related to creating groundwater conservation districts; - collects, interprets, and provides accurate and objective information on the state's groundwater resources; monitors groundwater levels and quality in the state's aquifers, conducts regional-scale aquifer modeling, characterizes the state's brackish groundwater resources, houses and maintains water well records, and supports groundwater conservation districts and their management efforts; - collects, analyzes, and disseminates data related to hydrometeorological and surface water conditions across the state and provides technical expertise to support water resource modeling, hydrographic surveys, surface water/groundwater interactions, environmental flows, drought and flood science, and regional water planning; - facilitates the state's conservation and alternative water supply planning and implementation efforts, including aquifer storage and recovery, brackish groundwater and seawater desalination, and reuse; conservation efforts include mitigating and auditing water loss, considering conservation in plans and reports, calculating agricultural water use in the state, and supporting the Water Conservation Advisory Council and rainwater harvesting; - advances flood resiliency through improved public awareness, scientific data, and financial and technical assistance; analyzes and disseminates flood risk data to support decision making, facilitates proactive floodplain management through education and access to resources, and assists with implementation of state and federally funded mapping, outreach, and mitigation projects focused on identifying and reducing long-term flood risk to life and property; - maintains a centralized data repository of information on the state's natural resources called the Texas Geographic Information Office (TxGIO) and manages the Strategic Mapping (StratMap) Initiative; StratMap is a Texas-based, public- and private-sector, cost-sharing program to develop consistent, large-scale digital base maps describing surface water, elevation, transportation, aerial photography, and other information. A full-time, three-member [Board](https://www.twdb.texas.gov/about/board/index.asp) appointed by the governor considers loan applications from eligible applicants, awards grants for water-related research and planning, and conducts other TWDB business, such as approving the state water plan.