Texas Border Business
AUSTIN — Texas voters sent a strong message on water last year when they approved billions in new investment to secure the state’s water future. New Texas 2036 polling shows why.
Nearly half of Texas voters (49%) say it is “extremely important” for the state to prioritize projects that either ensure Texas has enough water to support long-term economic growth or reduce the risk of communities facing serious water shortages. Another 30% say it is “very important,” bringing the total who place high importance on the issue to 79%.
“Voters are paying close attention to the headlines about Texas’ growth and, at the same time, communities at risk of running out of water,” said Jeremy Mazur, Texas 2036’s Director of Infrastructure and Natural Resources Policy. “They know that Texas must be strategic when it comes to water, and have provided clear preferences on what those priorities should be.”
The findings come at a pivotal moment for Texas water policy.
In 2025, Texas lawmakers proposed and voters approved a historic expansion of the state’s commitment to water infrastructure, including a dedicated revenue stream of up to $1 billion annually for the Texas Water Fund for 20 years.
The next challenge is making those investments count.
A new Texas 2036 analysis of the water crisis in Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend shows why stronger planning will be critical to that effort.
In a report released last month, Texas 2036 examined 25 years and five cycles of state and regional water plans and found that none projected Corpus Christi would experience a municipal water shortage during the 2020s. The same was true for other communities at the center of the Coastal Bend crisis.
By April 2026, combined storage in the reservoir system serving the region had fallen below 8%, triggering significant water restrictions and drought emergency actions.
“The lesson from the Coastal Bend isn’t that Texas needs to start over,” Mazur said. “Texas has built a strong foundation for planning its water future. The lesson is that we can make that process better at spotting risks earlier, helping communities act sooner and moving critical projects from pages in the plan to actual projects on the ground.”
Texas 2036’s report, The State Water Plan & The Coastal Bend Water Crisis, found that the Coastal Bend experience reveals opportunities to strengthen the data, assumptions and implementation mechanisms that support the state’s water planning process.
That is especially important as Texas prepares to make unprecedented investments in water infrastructure. The 2027 State Water Plan, estimated at $174 billion, will help identify and guide the projects Texas needs to meet the demands of a growing population and economy.
The Texas 2036 report recommends:
- verifying drought, hydrologic and other critical data before each planning cycle begins;
- turning water plans into more actionable blueprints, with projects organized by urgency and accompanied by implementation milestones;
- tracking whether recommended projects are actually built and how much water they ultimately deliver or conserve;
- stress-testing plans against drought conditions worse than the official drought of record;
- identifying communities vulnerable to drought even when a formal shortage is not projected; and
- formally notifying communities when the planning process identifies them as being at risk.
“Texas has already made a big commitment for our water future,” Mazur said. “Lawmakers acted. Voters said yes. And this poll shows Texans understand what is at stake. The opportunity now is to pair that historic investment with stronger state and regional planning so Texas can see water problems earlier, build the right projects sooner and protect the growth and quality of life Texans expect.”
The 10th Texas Voter Poll was conducted Aug. 22–26, 2026, by Baselice & Associates for Texas 2036, consisting of 1,369 completed interviews with registered Texas voters. Results were weighted to represent registered Texas voters statewide with an effective sample size after weighting of 1,001. Margin of sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points.
About Texas 2036
Texas 2036 is a nonpartisan public policy organization dedicated to improving lives and opportunities for all Texans through 2036, Texas’ bicentennial year, and beyond.
Information source: Texas 2036
