During the December 5 Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) meeting the uniform standards developed by representatives from Texas’ 16 regional planning groups were approved. These uniform standards to prioritize water projects at the regional level considered feasibility, viability, sustainability and cost effectiveness.
The regional water planning groups (RWPG) will apply the uniform standards to the projects in the 2011 Regional Water Plans and will have until June 1, 2014 to submit their draft prioritizations and until September 1, 2014 to submit their final prioritizations. The TWDB also noted that the uniform standards are considered a living document that could adapt to changing knowledge and circumstances and, as such, RWPG chairs are encouraged to actively solicit public input on the uniform standards and to provide that input and any associated RWPG recommendations to the TWDB no later than June 1, 2014.
Concurrently, TWDB is creating a team to seek public input to start developing rules to administer the SWIFT and prioritize projects at the state level. Over the next several months, TWDB will be holding public meetings and soliciting public input as the rules are developed.
The next currently scheduled meeting of the Texas Water Development Board will be January 23, 2014.
