As of March 5, 2026: Texas communities are being targeted in a phishing campaign with emails posing as TWDB.

Conveyance Coordination

Senate Bill 7, passed during the 89th Legislative Session, amended the Texas Water Code, Chapter 6, Subchapter H, charging the TWDB with facilitating: (1) the development of guidance and best practices for the standardization of the specifications, materials, and components used to design and construct infrastructure to transport water; (2) the development of standards and guidance to ensure potential interconnectivity and interoperability between different systems developed to transport water from different projects; and (3) the development of mechanical and technical standards for the integration of water that is made available by a project into a water supply system or into infrastructure to transport water that is made available by a project, as applicable.

Additionally, the TWDB will form and convene a water supply technical committee to foster greater early-stage collaboration among regional and major water providers and river authorities. The primary goal will be to identify the most promising path for developing excess water supply capacity and to incentivize conveyance initiatives that benefit the entire state.

(TWDB’s Office of Water Supply and Infrastructure)

Funding Recipients

  • For projects involving the development of infrastructure to transport water that is made available, considerations must be included in the project planning phase to reduce the necessity of exercising the power of eminent domain to obtain interest in real property by using existing transportation and utility easements (Texas Water Code §6.302(a)(1)).
  • For most of our funding programs, entities are required to participate in a pre-application meeting with staff to discuss the application process and project requirements. For projects including water conveyance, during the pre-application meeting, project representatives should be prepared to discuss the project’s property needs. If determined applicable, a future coordination meeting will need to be scheduled and facilitated by the TWDB Regional Water Project Development team during the project’s planning phase to include joint planning and coordination between project sponsors, governmental entities (e.g., TxDOT), utilities, common carriers, and other applicable stakeholders, as applicable, to reduce the necessity of exercising the power of eminent domain to obtain interests in real property by using existing transportation and utility easements. This meeting's outcome must be documented in the project’s final engineering feasibility report. Documented details would include the date, location, attendees, minutes, and outcome.
  • The lack of a pre-application meeting does not exclude an entity from the planning phase coordination.
  • We continue to update our existing program guidance documents to incorporate the coordination needs (e.g., Engineering Feasibility Reports, Site Certificate, and individual funding program guidance manuals).
  • For additional information on how the TWDB is incorporating additional coordination and planning requirements into water conveyance projects requesting financial assistance from the TWDB, please see the following public notice.
  • Financial assistance recipients can also reach out to their TWDB Regional Water Project Development team for specific project requirements.

Technical Support

  • Over the next year, the TWDB will develop guidance, best management practices, and standards to support water conveyance across Texas. Those will be made available on this webpage and in the program guidance and manuals library upon completion, which is anticipated in 2027.

Early-Stage Water Conveyance Coordination

(TWDB’s Office of Planning)

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is exploring the formation of an ad hoc Technical Committee to foster greater collaboration among regional and major water providers, including river authorities. The goal is to identify the most promising path for developing excess water supply capacity and to incentivize conveyance initiatives that benefit the entire state.

This effort directly supports implementation of Senate Bill 7 (89(R)), Section 6.302(b), which emphasizes coordination and building excess capacity into water infrastructure. The TWDB interprets this directive to also include visionary, large-scale projects that could play a role in meeting the long-term water needs of multiple regional water planning areas and accommodate future growth—potentially extending beyond the current 50-year planning horizon.

While regional water planning groups already consider long-term project sizing and regionalization to serve multiple communities, this initiative would further amplify those efforts by encouraging additional, early-stage coordination and high-level technical feasibility assessments across the state.

This concept would introduce a “Region T” coordination layer to enhance statewide water supply planning and development, with the TWDB initially facilitating the technical committee and making it a recurring feature convened at the appropriate stage of each five-year regional water planning cycle.

Recent Activities:

  • The TWDB collected stakeholder input on this process through a survey that closed March 25, 2026.
  • The TWDB is currently reviewing and processing survey responses to inform next steps.

Anticipated Timeline:

  • Determine Technical Committee Members – summer-fall 2026
  • Convene Technical Committee – late fall 2026