Overview
- The Texas Water Development Board approved the draft plan Thursday and opened public comment through May, with a May 27 hearing and final adoption targeted by January 2027.
- The analysis projects supplies falling about 10% by 2080 and possible shortfalls of 3.6 million acre-feet by 2030 and 5.8 million by 2080 if action lags, with an acre-foot equal to about 325,000 gallons.
- The blueprint outlines more than 3,000 projects that would add 7.6 million acre-feet by 2080, led by a $9.8 billion Toledo Bend pipeline to deliver water to Dallas–Fort Worth.
- The board ties the higher price to inflation, a backlog of unbuilt projects, and the rising cost of reaching scarcer sources, and it warns a severe 2030 drought could cause up to $91 billion in losses.
- Communities are already straining as growth and drought persist, with Corpus Christi warning of a near-term water emergency that could force industrial cutbacks.