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A Brief History of the West Harris
County Regional Water Authority
The West Harris County Regional Water Authority was
created by HB 1842, introduced by Rep. Callegari and
sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jon Lindsay. The bill
was approved by the 77th Texas Legislature, signed into
law by Governor Perry on May 28, 2001, and immediately
went into effect. The City of Katy consented to the
creation of the Authority on May 21, 2001, and the City
of Houston consented on June 6, 2001.
The WHCRWA was created to “accomplish the purposes of
Section 59, Article XVI, of the Texas Constitution,
including the acquisition and provision of surface water
and groundwater for residential, commercial, industrial,
agricultural, and other uses, the reduction of
groundwater withdrawals, the conservation, preservation,
protection, recharge, and prevention of waste of
groundwater, and of groundwater reservoirs or their
subdivisions, the control of subsidence caused by
withdrawal of water from those groundwater reservoirs or
their subdivisions, and other public purposes stated in
the act.”
A Board, made up of nine directors who serve
staggered four-year terms, governs the Authority.
Directors must: (i) be at least 18 years of age; (ii) be
a Texas resident; (iii) own land or be a qualified voter
within the director precinct; and (iv) have served as a
director of one or more districts for a total of at
least four years. To serve as a director representing
any part of the City of Katy, the individual must (i)
meet the other specified qualifications, and (ii) must
either meet the requirement of having served as a
director of one or more districts for at least four
years, or must have served as the mayor or a member of
the city council of the City of Katy.
The Authority has completed its Groundwater Reduction
Plan (GRP) and gained Harris Galveston Subsidence
District (“the District”) approval in compliance with
the District’s regulations requiring GRP submittal. The
District’s regulations also require conversion to
surface water via a 30% reduction of groundwater usage
by 2010; 70% by 2020; and 80% by 2030. Successful
negotiations with the City of Houston yielded a mutually
satisfactory long-term water supply contract. The
Authority continues to implement numerous surface water
delivery projects to deliver water to utility districts,
and the first surface water was delivered in September
2005.
The Authority charges fees for surface water
delivered by the Authority and for groundwater pumped by
various water well owners. To date (5-08), WHCRWA has
held four successful Bond Sales that have funded the
many Capital Improvement Projects and paid the City of
Houston for future water supplies required by the long
term contract.
The WHCRWA has been in existence since only 2001, and
the Board takes considerable pride in being able to
announce such momentous accomplishments in that limited
time period. The Authority has designed, purchased
easements for, and constructed over 27 miles of new
waterlines and constructed its Pump Station # 1, all of
which will serve to deliver millions of gallons of
surface water a day to a variety of utility districts.
The WHCRWA has an aggressive Capital Improvement Plan
in place to meet the timelines that have been
established for design and construction of the
Authority’s facilities. In addition to its aggressive
water line construction efforts, the Authority has been
active in promoting water conservation education
programs for use in public schools within their
boundaries and for area residents. Each year, the
Authority distributes a newsletter to residents in area
subdivisions in order to provide current information
about critical water issues. The WHCRWA also maintains
two websites – www.whcrwa.com and www.ReduceYourUse.com
– that offer pertinent information about the Authority,
its construction projects, and ways to use our precious
water supplies more efficiently.
Updated May, 2008
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