Commentary: 89th Texas State Legislature: Summaries of Water-Related Legislative Action

Editor-in-Chief ’s Note: September 1 of every odd-numbered year is the date when most new legislation from the most recent session of the Texas Legislature typically goes into effect. With this in mind, the Texas Water Journal invited seven organizations that work closely with the Texas Legislature to provide their take on the changes to Texas water policy and law that were made during the 2025 session. The opinions expressed in these summaries are the opinions of the individual organizations and not the opinions of the Texas Water Journal, the Texas Water Resources Institute, the Bureau of Economic Geology, or the Water and Environment Research Center

2024 State Flood Plan: History in the Making

In August 2024, the Texas Water Development Board adopted the 2024 State Flood Plan, providing the first-ever comprehensive statewide assessment of flood risk and solutions to reduce the risk and impact to life and property due to flooding. The plan incorporates the findings of 15 watershed-based regional flood plans and includes legislative and floodplain management recommendations to guide state, regional, and local flood control policy to reduce the risk and impact of flooding. Senate Bill 8, 86th Texas Legislature (2019), created the regional and state flood planning process modeled after the bottom-up regional and state water planning process. The Texas Water Development Board will produce a new state flood plan every 5 years based on the flood planning groups’ regional plans. This article provides a summary of the 2024 State Flood Plan, and the content is heavily sourced from the published plan

Projected Reservoir Rating Curves and Their Utility for Water Planning in Texas

This paper presents a method for projecting future reservoir elevation-area-capacity rating curves by calculating the distribution of sediment volume by lake elevation in reservoirs in Texas. We develop reservoir rating curves for the next 50 years, assuming a constant sedimentation volumetric rate as calculated at each elevational gradient for the predicting period. Projected rating curves can be used to simulate the impact of sedimentation on future reservoir firm yield and inform estimates of future available surface water for water planning purposes in Texas

DESASTRE Y RECUPERACIÓN EN LA REGIÓN DE GUADALUPE VALLEY LAKES EN EL CENTRO DE TEXAS

Along a segment of the Guadalupe River in Central Texas, multiple historic dams owned and operated by the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority have failed. These dams create small lakes along which a string of communities have deeply embedded their lives. In this paper, we present a case study investigating the failure of the Lake Dunlap Dam and the subsequent responses at the community, regulatory, and state levels. The results highlight the social challenges of managing dam infrastructure and how the Lake Dunlap community navigated emotions, regulatory restrictions, and financial reality to create a solution that other communities along the river adopted. This case study also revealed that multiple communities facing similar issues posed by aging dam infrastructure will need alternative, less costly solutions. Future studies ought to consider the feasibility of reconstruction for aging dams across the state as well as the potential for alternatives. The case of the Guadalupe Valley Lake region dam failures and aftermath can inform policy and management regarding Texas’s vast and aging dam infrastructure

Microplastics and Microfibers in River Sediments: A Review of Current Literature and New Data from Texas Rivers

Microplastics in the Earth system are now widely documented and assessed. As plastic production continues and recycling capabilities lag, however, continued monitoring of their accumulation and transport within fluvial systems is necessary for managing the ecological and geomorphic effects of their presence. In addition to plastic pellets, particles, and beads, synthetic fibers and fibers coated with synthetic dye are increasingly causing concern due to their sheer numbers in the natural environment. This study presents a comprehensive review of the current literature regarding microplastics and microfibers in the environment and their potential impact on fluvial systems. In addition, data are presented that demonstrate the presence and prevalence of microfibers in select Texas rivers. Bed sediment from the Brazos, Colorado, and Trinity Rivers was sampled and assessed during the years 2020–2021. Fibers were present in nearly all samples, most abundantly immediately downstream of urban centers. Such sampling efforts should be taken regularly in ecological and geomorphic systems to monitor the temporal accumulation of plastic particles and fibers. These may have direct or cascading effects on ecological and human health. Increasing synthetic sediment may also influence the geomorphic adjustment of river channels by alterations to biogeomorphology and hydraulic processes

The Ebb and Flow of the Water Workforce

The water sector has been experiencing an aging workforce where retirements are outpacing recruitment of new, job-readied workers. The resulting workforce shortage threatens the ability of the water industry to protect the nation’s public health and environment and the sustainability of critical water infrastructure investments. While working on the frontline of water and wastewater system operations traditionally required an education level equal to or less than a high school diploma, the increased complexity of our water system will entail increased levels of education and professional training. In the meantime, colleges must reinvent themselves quickly to accommodate the needs of the water industry and a new generation of students seeking different options to maximize their investments in education and professional development. We examined the water workforce landscape and the emerging challenges of working in water and wastewater utilities. We then outlined the role of higher education programs in developing a competent workforce ready to tackle these challenges, such as the treatment of emerging water contaminants and modernizing an aging system vulnerable to extreme weather and cyberattacks. While college degrees remain valuable for educational credentialing and career development, programs offered in colleges and universities must be made accessible to in-service professionals and curricula must reflect the challenges faced by workers in today’s water systems.The water sector has been experiencing an aging workforce outpacing new, job-readied labor. The resulting workforce shortage threatens protecting the nation’s public health and environment and the sustainability of critical water infrastructure investments. While this frontline workforce for water and wastewater system operations traditionally requires an education level equal to or less than a high school diploma, the increased complexity of our water system will entail the service of highly competent professionals through education and professional training. In the meantime, colleges must reinvent themselves quickly to accommodate both the needs of the water industry and the new generation of students seeking different options to maximize their investments in education and professional development. By examining the water workforce landscape and the emerging challenges of water and wastewater utilities, the article outlines the role of higher education programs in generating a competent workforce ready to tackle these challenges, such as the elimination of emerging water contaminants and maintaining an aging system vulnerable to extreme weather and cyber-attacks. While college degrees remain valuable for educational credentialing and career development, programs offered in colleges and universities must be accessible to in-service professionals and curricula must reflect the challenges faced today by water systems

Commentary: Now or Never: It’s Time to Address Water Scarcity in Texas

Editor-in-Chief\u27s Note: In every odd-numbered year, the Texas Legislature convenes in regular session for 140 days. With this in mind, the Texas Water Journal invited Senator Charles Perry, Chairman of the Senate Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee to discuss his priorities and visions for Texas water and the regular session of the 89th Texas Legislature. The opinion expressed in this commentary is the opinion of the individual author and not the opinion of the Texas Water Journal or the Texas Water Resources Institute, or the Bureau of Economic Geology

Best Management Practices to Mitigate Contamination of Karstic Aquifers from Emergency Fire-Control Runoff

We propose best management practices to increase karstic aquifer drinking water supplies’ resilience to potential hazardous material impacts where first responders and public safety officials suspect emergency firefighting runoff has entered the subsurface in the aquifer recharge zone. Karstic aquifers are unique because of their direct openings to the land’s surface, which allows contaminants in runoff or other surface waters to rapidly enter the subsurface and impact aquifer water quality. In the United States, 20% of the land surface is karst, and about a third of the groundwater used for drinking comes from karstic aquifers. Proposed best management practices emphasize on-site, real-time evaluation of the transport and fate of HAZMAT that may enter the subsurface and focus on water quality sampling, runoff and groundwater flow modeling, nontoxic dye tracing, and related studies for use in planning before and during an event and after emergency response has ended. We recommend best management practices for evidence-based screening of high-risk sites to facilitate placement of hazardous material sampling devices and emergency responder deployment. The best management practices, tools, curricula, and training described combine with earlier work by the authors to provide a comprehensive menu of actions to (1) help first responders prevent or limit flushing of hazardous material into a karstic aquifer; (2) help emergency management officials understand the consequences of contamination and issue data-driven geographically focused health and safety risk communications; and (3) help provide health and safety officials with relevant science- and data-based information that can help mitigate human and environmental health risks

Addressing Challenges to Ensuring Justice and Sustainability in Policy and Infrastructure for Texas Water Resources in the 21st Century

Environmental justice and sustainability have both become major concerns for water resource management, particularly with recent federal emphasis on environmental justice under the Biden administration in the United States. Texas, like many U.S. states, lags behind the federal government in this emphasis. While many localities have made progress in some respects—for example, some major Texas municipalities have included equity and sustainability metrics in their recent climate action plans—others have not. This has left a patchwork of persistent water management and availability issues that are exacerbated by extreme weather and worsening impacts of climate change. We provide a review of many of Texas’s water equity and sustainability challenges, both now and in a more extreme climate future. These include water access, affordability, contamination, flooding, drought, and aging infrastructure. For example, many Texas counties rank highest in the nation for flood risk, including coastal counties with high populations of disadvantaged communities and counties containing populations that live in persistent poverty in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Additionally, approximately 44,000 Texans, or about 0.4% of the state population, lack access to complete plumbing facilities in their homes. The costs of water infrastructure leaks (estimated at about 51 gallons of water per day statewide) are shared across customers of all income levels, though they place a disproportionate burden on low-income customers. We then assess existing statewide and local policy and planning efforts and gaps in addressing these concerns in Texas. We focus particularly on the role of efforts to incorporate community voice—the ideas, concerns, needs, and expertise of impacted community members, dismantle causes of injustice, and improve equity in spending. If communities are not intentional with future development, new water infrastructure could continue to perpetuate existing harms. Thus, we provide a research agenda and recommendations for addressing some of the policy and planning gaps and persistent environmental justice issues. We aim to help water managers and policy makers identify and dismantle sources of inequity, particularly through including community voice

Differences in the Hydration State of Riparian Pecan Trees Between Rural and Urban Settings

Urbanization causes changes in near-surface meteorology and rainfall-runoff relationships that threaten to place hydraulic stress on vegetation. The goal of this study was to investigate the differences in riparian zone tree hydration state, as indicated by leaf water potential, between an urban and a rural stream site, and to understand how the trees respond differently to precipitation events. At the rural stream site, the streambed was dry due to persistent drought conditions, whereas the urban stream site had established flow due to urban water inputs. The trees at the urban site were found to suffer less hydraulic stress than the trees at the rural site, as indicated by predawn leaf water potential measurements. Additionally, trees at the rural site were found to regulate stomatal openness to reduce transpiration on the day before rain, but not after, due to the presence of near-surface moisture introduced by the rain event. Trees at the urban site did not have to regulate stomatal openness before or after the rain, as the established flow in the stream provided consistent water access. These findings support the viability of protecting and preserving riparian ecosystems in urban settings