November Ballot: Proposition 4 and the Texas Water Fund

(Opinion) As published in Lake Travis View, October 2025.

Update 11/4/25: Texas Voters Approve Prop 4 – Dedicating $20B to Water Infrastructure

This November, Texans will vote on Proposition 4, a constitutional amendment that would dedicate up to $1 billion annually from existing sales-tax revenues to the newly created Texas Water Fund. The measure, passed by the Legislature as House Joint Resolution 7 (HJR 7), is designed to provide the first long-term, statewide funding mechanism to support water and wastewater infrastructure.

Other states are watching Texas closely, with policy experts suggesting the Texas Water Fund could serve as a model for sustainable investment in water infrastructure over multiple decades.

Lakeway MUD

The need for such a measure is clear: The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2025 Texas Infrastructure Report Card gave the state’s drinking water systems a D+ and wastewater systems a D-, citing aging facilities, frequent leaks, and limited investment in upgrades. The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) estimates that more than $154 billion will be required by 2050 to meet water and wastewater needs. At present, there is no dedicated constitutional funding source to address this challenge.

Population growth adds urgency: Texas’s population is projected to grow from 32.9 million in 2030 to 53.2 million by 2080. Ensuring safe, reliable drinking water is not only a public health priority, but also critical for sustaining economic growth. Indicators of strain are already visible. According to the ASCE Report Card, the number of boil-water advisories in Texas doubled between 2020 and 2023, highlighting the impact of aging infrastructure, while the number of Public Water Systems restricting water use to avoid shortages rose from 46 in 2019 to 571 in 2023, affecting approximately 6.4 million people.

If approved by voters, Proposition 4 would require the Comptroller to transfer up to $1 billion each fiscal year, beginning in 2027, into the Texas Water Fund. Transfers would occur only if sales-tax revenues exceed $46.5 billion. The fund would be administered by the TWDB and distributed through its existing financing programs, which are guided by the State Water Plan. The plan, updated every five years and built from sixteen regional water plans, provides a roadmap for meeting future water demand. Proposition 4 would strengthen this process by attaching reliable funding to long-term planning.

For communities like ours, the potential benefits are significant: dedicated resources could support replacing aging mains, modernizing treatment plants, expanding reuse and storage projects, and investing in flood mitigation. By expanding access to low-interest TWDB loans and grants, Proposition 4 could also help reduce the financial burden on local utilities and ratepayers.

Proposition 4 marks an important milestone. Other states are watching Texas closely, with policy experts suggesting the Texas Water Fund could serve as a model for sustainable investment in water infrastructure over multiple decades.

As you consider your choices in the upcoming election, we encourage you to consider that Proposition 4 represents an opportunity to address Texas’s pressing water needs with a long-term solution that matches the scale of the challenge. Early voting is October 20 – October 31. Election day is November 4.

Stephanie Threinen is the public information liaison for the Lakeway Municipal Utility District. Earl Foster is the general manager of LMUD.