Needs Surveys

Clean Watershed Needs Survey

The Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (CWNS) was mandated by the Clean Water Act (CWA), passed by Congress and signed into law in 1972. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with states, territories, and the District of Columbia, typically conducts the CWNS every four years. Congress requires the EPA to conduct the CWNS under Sections 205(a) and 516 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S Code § 1375). The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law amended the CWA to direct the EPA to conduct and complete an assessment of capital improvement needs for all projects that are eligible under Section 603(c) for assistance from state water pollution control revolving funds.

The CWNS is a comprehensive assessment of the capital costs (or needs) to meet the water quality goals of the CWA and address water quality and water quality-related public health concerns. Every four years, the states and the EPA collect information about:

• Publicly owned wastewater collection and treatment facilities
• Stormwater and combined sewer overflows control facilities
• Nonpoint source pollution control projects
• Decentralized wastewater management

The EPA collects information about these facilities and projects including:

• Estimated needs to address water quality or water quality-related public health problems
• Location and contact information for facilities and projects
• Facility populations served, flow, effluent, and unit process information
• Nonpoint source pollution control best management practices

The EPA documents national and state needs in a Report to Congress used by Congress and state legislatures in their budgeting efforts.

The 2016 CWNS was cancelled, and COVID delayed the next scheduled CWNS until 2022. It has been ten years since the last CWNS was completed (2012 CWNS). The CWNS allows a census of publicly owned treatment works (POTWs), usually referred to as wastewater facilities, as defined by Section 212 of the CWA. There are more than 2,900 existing or potentially needed facilities in Texas. TWDB staff members submitted information from our financial program's Intended Use Plans, eligible projects from our State Water Plan, and other available sources. The 2022 Final Report to Congress shows that Texas needs a minimum $18,857,474,041 to meet CWA goals, an increase from the $11.8 billion reported in 2012.

Click to view the 2022 CWNS results and data dashboard.

Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey

Every four years, the state of Texas participates in the Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey (DWINS). The survey, mandated by the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, collects information from Texas water systems about new infrastructure needed to provide ample quality drinking water to their customers over a 20-year period. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its ten multi-state regions assist in tabulating the needs and reporting the estimates to Congress. The results of this survey determine the amount of funding Texas receives for the federal Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for the following four years.

The DWINS was due to be conducted in 2019 but was delayed until 2021 because of Covid-19. For the 2021 DWINS, the Texas Water Development Board utilized sample data from 116 medium (3,301 to 100,000 population) and large (over 100,000 population) systems. The sample in each state includes all large systems, a statistical sample of medium systems, and no small systems. The estimated needs for small systems are based on a national sample and apportioned to the states according to the number of systems in each state.

For each survey, the agency partners with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to contact sampled systems and collect information. Water systems are studied intensely to identify needed rehabilitation, replacement or improvement of specific assets. The survey includes costs for wells, intakes, treatment plants, transmission lines, storage tanks, pumping facilities, meters, valves and distribution networks for Texas systems eligible to receive assistance from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. Alternatively, the study does not include costs for future population growth, dams, reservoirs, agriculture, and fire suppression.

From the 116 medium and large systems sampled, the agency submitted 8,191 projects for inclusion in the survey. The newly released EPA's 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey's Report to Congress states that Texas' water infrastructure needs for the next twenty years have increased by $16.1 billion since the last survey completed in 2015 to an estimated $61.2 billion (see table below). Texas has the second greatest water infrastructure need in the nation, increasing from 7.58% of the total need in the previous survey to 9.80% in the latest (2021) survey.

Based in part on the increase in the allocation percentage, Texas received $414,396,000 in 2023 for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which enables the agency to provide low interest loans and principal forgiveness to Texas water systems.

For more information, please view the EPA's 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment website.

2015 and 2021 DWINS Totals and Comparisons