Texas Water Development Board approves $7,072,334 in groundwater science, research, and data collection grants

For immediate release. Contact: Media Relations at 512-463-5129

AUSTIN – (June 25, 2026) – The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today approved $3,507,885 in grants from State Fiscal Year 2026 and $3,564,449 in grants from State Fiscal Year 2027 through its Groundwater Science, Research, and Data Collection Grants Program. The program offers grant funding to groundwater conservation districts to conduct projects or programs for groundwater research, science, and data collection that benefit local groundwater management and planning.

The grant recipients for State Fiscal Year 2026 include:

• $112,100 to the Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District to refine the hydrogeologic characterization of the Sycamore (Lower Trinity) aquifer in Burnet County by integrating new and existing datasets, with an emphasis on understanding and protecting springs such as Krause Springs.
• $80,000 to the Comal Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to quantify recharge to the Middle Trinity aquifer from the Guadalupe River in western Comal County to address a critical data gap in current groundwater analysis.
• $140,862 to the Middle Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to evaluate the vertical hydraulic connectivity between the Middle Trinity and Lower Trinity aquifer units in Bosque, Comanche, Coryell, and Erath counties.
• $274,089 to the  Mid-East Texas Groundwater Conservation District to evaluate connectivity between the Trinity River and the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in Freestone, Leon, and Madison counties.
• $158,051 to the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District to refine Ogallala and Dockum aquifer characterization using geophysical data.
• $148,297 to the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District to evaluate hydrogeologic structure and water quality in the minor aquifers within the District.
• $15,000 to the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District to compile and interpret hydrogeologic data for the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in Milam and Burleson counties to improve aquifer characterization.
• $158,500 to the Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District to conduct an interferometric synthetic aperture radar study to measure land subsidence in Victoria County and purchase and install a Global Navigation Satellite System station to monitor land subsidence.
• $300,000 to the Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater Conservation District to expand and modernize groundwater monitoring and data infrastructure in Bandera County to improve the availability and quality of groundwater data.  
• $254,741 to the Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District to modernize the District’s groundwater monitoring network by installing sensors, pressure transducers, and telemetry systems in selected wells in the Simsboro and Brazos River Alluvium aquifers in Brazos and Robertson counties.
• $208,000 to the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to expand and modernize groundwater monitoring and data infrastructure in Hays County to improve the availability and quality of groundwater data.
• $199,387 to the Lower Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to expand groundwater and subsidence monitoring in San Jacinto and Polk counties.
• $300,000 to the Menard County Underground Water District to establish groundwater monitoring in the Hickory aquifer in Menard County—where there are currently no active monitoring wells—and evaluate achievement of desired future conditions.
• $133,664 to the Mesquite Groundwater Conservation District to collect aquifer property data through pumping tests across multiple districts in Groundwater Management Area 6.
• $62,068 to the Pineywoods Groundwater Conservation District to expand groundwater monitoring in the outcrop of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in Nacogdoches County to provide monitoring for a future managed aquifer recharge project.
• $300,000 to the Prairielands Groundwater Conservation District to install a new monitoring well in the Trinity Aquifer (Hensell aquifer) near Joshua, Texas in Johnson County.
• $287,173 to the Rolling Plains Groundwater Conservation District to collect and analyze geophysical data in Baylor, Knox, Haskell, and neighboring counties to support refined aquifer mapping in the region and the District’s managed aquifer recharge project.
• $274,712 to the Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District to expand the District’s groundwater monitoring infrastructure and refine aquifer characterization in southwestern Travis County.
• $101,241 to the Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District to upgrade and expand groundwater monitoring for the Trinity Aquifer in northern Bexar County.

The grant recipients for State Fiscal Year 2027 include:

• $298,000.00 to the Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District to develop a local numerical groundwater model to support groundwater management in Hays and southwestern Travis counties.
• $245,983 to the Brush Country Groundwater Conservation District to establish baseline groundwater data (water levels, water quality, and subsidence) in northeastern Jim Wells County to support informed groundwater management.
• $169,000 to the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District to develop a conceptual model of hydrogeology in Goliad County, which entails compiling data, refining aquifer structure and stratigraphy, collecting aquifer property data, and refining additional datasets (water levels, recharge and evapotranspiration, and pumping).
• $248,632 to the Gonzales County Underground Water Conservation District to develop a local numerical groundwater model to support groundwater management in Gonzales County.
• $148,000 to the Hemphill County Underground Water Conservation District to evaluate interactions between the Ogallala Aquifer and surface water in Hemphill County through field data collection and analysis.
• $178,000 to the Hill Country Underground Water Conservation District to evaluate hydraulic connectivity between the Edwards-Trinity (Plateau) and Ellenburger-San Saba aquifers in Gillespie County.
• $298,710 to the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District to develop a local numerical groundwater model to support groundwater management in Anderson, Henderson, and Cherokee counties.
• $50,000 to the Permian Basin Underground Water Conservation District to analyze groundwater level decline and update aquifer datasets in Martin and Howard counties.
• $122,981 to the Southeast Texas Groundwater Conservation District to expand subsidence monitoring in Jasper, Newton, Hardin, and Tyler counties.
• $180,000 to the Blanco Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District to compile, digitize, and interpret about 200 borehole geophysical logs from mixed formats (hard-copied and electronic) collected by the District within Blanco County.
• $225,000 to the Brazoria County Groundwater Conservation District to develop a comprehensive groundwater characterization for Brazoria County by compiling and analyzing existing and newly available hydrogeologic data.
• $205,221 to the Clearwater Underground Water Conservation District to expand continuous groundwater monitoring in Bell County by installing flow meters at production wells and integrating pumping data with continuous water level monitoring.
• $60,000 to the Colorado County Groundwater Conservation District to quantify groundwater use from wells exempt from District permitting requirements in Colorado County.
• $83,626 to the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District to characterize the aquifers in Frio, Atascosa, Wilson, and Karnes counties.
• $77,385 to the Fayette County Groundwater Conservation District to upgrade the District’s groundwater monitoring infrastructure by installing continuous monitoring equipment.
• $28,994 to the Gateway Groundwater Conservation District to expand groundwater monitoring in the District (Hardeman, Childress, Cottle, Foard, King and Motley counties) through installation of continuous monitoring equipment and drilling new monitoring wells.
• $70,185 to the Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District to expand groundwater monitoring sites in the Edwards-Trinity (Plateau) Aquifer in Kerr County for evaluation alongside springflow at the headwaters of the Guadalupe River.
• $111,500 to the Kimble County Groundwater Conservation District to develop a groundwater data management system and expand groundwater monitoring infrastructure in Kimble County.
• $170,000 to the Kinney County Groundwater Conservation District to improve understanding of the relationship between springflow at Las Moras Springs and aquifer conditions through targeted data collection in Kinney County.
• $41,765 to the Lipan-Kickapoo Water Conservation District to establish a groundwater monitoring network to evaluate water levels and recharge dynamics in the Lipan aquifer in Tom Green, Concho, and Runnels counties.
• $136,827 to the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District to expand subsidence monitoring in Montgomery County.
• $50,000 to the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District to enhance understanding of groundwater-surface water interactions between the Colorado River and the alluvial aquifers in Bastrop and Lee counties.
• $300,000 to the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to expand groundwater monitoring infrastructure and data collection in Hood County to better characterize the Trinity Aquifer in the District.
• $64,640 to the Wintergarden Groundwater Conservation District to expand the District’s groundwater monitoring network through the installation of modern monitoring systems in Dimmit, LaSalle, and Zavala counties.

These grants will support the implementation of projects that benefit local groundwater management and planning and the statewide groundwater science, data, and modeling objectives of the TWDB.

Visit the TWDB Stakeholder Opportunities webpage (under the Request for Applications section) to learn more about the Groundwater Research, Science, and Data Collection Grants program.