Compact with Texans

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is the state's primary water planning and financing agency whose main responsibilities are threefold:

  • Collect and disseminate water-related data,
  • Plan for the development of the state's water resources, and;
  • Administer cost-effective financing programs.

Since 1957, the agency has been charged with planning for the state's water needs. With the passage of Senate Bill 1 during the 75th Texas Legislature, the TWDB has stepped into an even greater leadership role: guiding, enabling and supporting the state's water resources development.

The TWDB's Mission

The TWDB's mission is to lead the state's efforts in ensuring a secure water future for Texas. In performing these responsibilities, the TWDB strives to achieve excellence in meeting and exceeding customer expectations and to provide information and services in a highly professional and timely manner. To attain these goals, the TWDB is committed to encouraging customer feedback on products and services provided, and to the continual evaluation of our programs to ensure they meet the needs of our customers.

In recognition of our dedication to customer service, the TWDB is pleased to make available to customers this Compact with Texans, outlining the agency's customer service initiatives and goals. This Compact briefly summarizes the programs and services the agency offers, along with corresponding links to locate this information on the agency's web site; identifies who to contact; and describes the process for making a complaint or requesting information from the agency. The TWDB pledges to put forth its best efforts to abide by these service principles in order to provide customers a pleasant service experience with the agency.

The TWDB's Program and Service Offering

The TWDB currently provides the following programs and services to customers.

  • Financial Assistance: Provides loans to local governments for water supply and water quality projects, including wastewater treatment and nonpoint source pollution control; flood control projects, including beach renourishment; and agricultural water conservation projects. For more information please call (512) 463-7857 or link to the Financial Assistance section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
  • Economically Distressed Areas Program (EDAP): Provides grants and loans for the water and wastewater needs of the state's economically distressed areas that lack adequate water or wastewater service. For more information please call (512) 463-7509 or link to the EDAP section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
  • Data Collection: Collects data on the occurrence, quality, and availability of fresh waters in Texas. For more information please call (512) 936-2385 or link to the Data section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
  • Agricultural Water Conservation Funding: Provides funding in form of grants and low-interest loans. For more information please call (512) 463-7988 or by clicking on the appropriate links above.
  • Regional & State Water Planning: Guides the development of regional water plans; conducts studies and creates models of Texas' surface and groundwater resources; projects future water availability; incorporates regional water plans into a statewide water plan for the orderly development, management and conservation of the state's water resources. For more information please call (512) 936-2387, or link to the Regional Water Planning section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
  • Environmental Studies: Collects data and conducts studies concerning the freshwater needs of the state's bays and estuaries. For more information please call (512) 936-0815 or link to the Environmental Data section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
  • Water Bank: Administers the Texas Water Bank, which facilitates the transfer, sale or lease of water and water rights throughout the state, and administers the Texas Water Trust, where water rights are held for environmental flow maintenance purposes. For more information please call (512) 463-4146 or link to the Water Bank section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
  • Texas Geographic Information Office (TxGIO): Maintains a centralized data bank of information on the state's natural resources and manages the Strategic Mapping Initiative, a Texas based, public and private sector cost-sharing program that produces large-scale computerized base maps describing basic geographic features of Texas. For more information please call (512) 463-8051 or link to the TNRIS section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.

Complaint-Handling Process

The Texas Water Development Board strives to improve our level of customer service at all times. If you have a complaint about the agency, our staff or our services, please submit it to the TWDB's Customer Service Representative in any of the following ways:

By mail:
Customer Service Representative
Texas Water Development Board
P.O. Box 13231
Austin, TX 78711-3231
By fax:
512-475-2053
By phone:
512-463-7847
By e-mail:
customerservice@twdb.texas.gov

Complaints will be forwarded to the appropriate office to handle within two working days. You will receive a complete response within five working days. If a full response is not possible within that timeframe, you will be notified of an expected response date within the five working days following your complaint submission.

Open Records Requests

Public Information Act requests may be submitted via mail, fax, email or hand-delivery. The TWDB answers all requests for information within the timelines and through the procedures established in the Public Information Act. For more info, please go to Open Records Request.

TWDB Web Site:

The Texas Water Development Board seeks to provide information to customers in an accessible and easy-to-use format. The agency recognizes the technology and convenience of the World Wide Web as being a valuable tool for data collection and dissemination and interaction with our customers, legislators, local, state and federal public servants and the general public. Therefore, the continual improvement, enhancement and maintenance of the agency's web site are top priorities for the TWDB.

The agency web site offers customers an expansive amount of information, and utilizes the Internet for distribution of TWDB information and services. The TWDB web site attempts to adhere to the following goals:

  • Quick load time simulation of 15 seconds per page using a 28.8 kbps data modem,
  • Easy and intuitive site navigation,
  • Compliance with Priority 1 Standards for Accessibility to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
  • Linking and indexing to related sites,
  • File size notation for downloadable documents, images, video and audio,
  • Updated data and information provided in a timely fashion, with dates indicating when web pages were last updated,
  • Documents posted to the web available in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), HTML, or ASCII format, and;
  • Immediate and convenient customer feedback provided via email links and customer survey mechanisms.