EPIC DWSRF Funding Tracker: Texas

These findings and recommendations are drawn from EPIC’s analysis of DWSRF Intended Use Plans (IUPs) prepared by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) for State Fiscal Years 2022-2026. 

Federal law requires states to submit an IUP as a condition of receiving a DWSRF federal capitalization grant, and further requires that “[t]he IUP must contain a fundable list of projects that are expected to receive assistance from available funds designated for use in the current IUP and a comprehensive list of projects that are expected to receive assistance in the future.” EPIC interprets “comprehensive list” broadly, to include any projects for which an applicant has indicated an interest in seeking SRF funds, and which could be considered for SRF funding from the current or a future funding cycle. EPIC interprets “fundable list” to include a subset of projects identified at the IUP stage, which have been selected to move forward in the process towards finalizing an SRF award agreement. As such, this subset of projects has passed the first hurdle towards receiving SRF funds. In Texas, the Fundable List is indicated by an Initial Invited Project List, while the alphabetical and ranked Project Priority Lists are considered the Comprehensive Lists. 

In addition to analyzing project-level data and financial data contained within the IUPs and PPLs, this report utilized EPIC’s Texas Community Water System Prioritization Tool to better understand the communities benefiting from Texas’ DWSRF policies. The result is a list of findings and recommendations to help improve Texas’ DWSRF program.