The Texas Water Development Board votes Thursday on $37.6 million for a small water district west of Fort Worth — the largest single award yet in a federal program aimed at PFAS, the industrial “forever chemicals” turning up in drinking water. None of it has to be repaid. Anyone who wants to speak by video has to register by noon Wednesday.
The recipient is the Parker County Special Utility District, which serves about 4,100 people and 1,808 connections. Its Tidwell plant would double to 4 million gallons a day and add reverse osmosis filtration. The board’s staff memo says the plant draws raw water from the Brazos River, “which contains PFAS concentrations exceeding the EPA’s proposed Maximum Contaminant Levels.” The full project costs $58.6 million; the district covers the other $14.8 million.
Two cautions before this becomes a contamination story. No PFAS test result for this district appears anywhere in the public record. It was not among the six Fort Worth-area systems whose 2024 federal sampling exceeded the new limits, and state compliance monitoring does not begin until April 2027. Separately, Tidwell has run reverse osmosis since 2014, built to pull salt out of the Brazos. Staff list a projected 238 acre-foot shortage by 2030 and an expiring supply contract with Mineral Wells first; PFAS removal also happens to qualify the project for this money.
The fund is small against the demand. Two spending plans on the same agenda divide $55.6 million for drinking water and $9.3 million for wastewater. In comments filed last week, the Environmental Policy Innovation Center told the board that projects already on its own candidate list carry more than $2.5 billion in costs, and urged it to move administrative set-asides into construction instead. Staff declined.
Also up: $66 million in federal flood-mitigation subgrants covering 2,207 flood-prone structures in the Houston area, a $60 million loan to Amarillo to design a replacement wastewater plant, and smaller grants to Alice, Rosebud and Tenaha. The board also signs off on its budget request to the Legislature, due August 14 under an order from the Governor and presiding officers to cut base spending by three percent. The agency has not published its numbers.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 9:30 a.m. CT Thursday, August 6, 2026. Speakers joining by video must register by noon Wednesday, August 5; in-person speakers by 8 a.m. Thursday.
- Where
- Barbara Jordan Building, Room 2.035, 1601 Congress Avenue, Austin 78701 — not the board’s usual 1700 North Congress address.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Water Development Board — three full-time members appointed by the Governor to six-year terms. L’Oreal Stepney, chairwoman. Bryan McMath is executive administrator.
- Format
- In person and by Microsoft Teams webinar. State law bars comment by telephone only. Contact: Kathleen Ligon, 512-463-8294.
- Live video
- Microsoft Teams webinar. No separate broadcast stream is advertised.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · TWDB agenda and staff memos
Board members
- L’Oreal Stepney, P.E., Pflugerville — chairwoman; engineer, named to chair January 2025.
- W. Brady Franks, Austin — former state budget director; appointed September 2025.
- Ashley Morgan, Georgetown — attorney; joined the board October 2025.
Roster: TWDB Board Members. Agency head: Bryan McMath, Executive Administrator.