HB29

HB29 requires large municipally owned drinking-water utilities to validate their water-loss audits and plan how to reduce losses. It applies only when the utility serves more than 150,000 connections—not 150,000 residents or exactly 150,000 connections. The incorporated definition includes utilities owned, operated and controlled by a municipality or by a nonprofit corporation whose directors are appointed by one or more municipalities. The governor signed it May 29, 2025, and it took immediate effect. History; enrolled law; Water Code 13.002(13).

After filing its annual audit, a covered utility must complete a validation within 180 days and develop and submit a water-loss mitigation plan to the Texas Water Development Board within one year of filing the audit. The validation must check the utility’s assessment of possible data inaccuracies, follow board guidelines and be performed by someone trained and certified to conduct it. Neither board staff nor the person who submitted the audit may conduct the validation. The statute does not say every validator must be an outside contractor.

By December 31, 2030, and every ten years thereafter, the utility must complete a more detailed validation of its most recent audit, examining whether leakage-reduction strategies are appropriate and checking billing-data accuracy. This validator must be experienced, use industry standards, build on the first validation’s recommendations and consult its validator. Board staff and the audit submitter are again excluded. The utility must update its mitigation plan and its one-, three-, five- and ten-year goals. 16.0122(c)–(h).

The plan must describe projects or programs, estimated financial and water savings, and each project’s or program’s costs. Within one year after completing the mitigation plan, the utility must incorporate it into its existing water-conservation plan. Annual conservation reports must describe progress. That second one-year deadline is tied to plan completion, not audit filing.

The environmental commission must assess a $25,000 administrative penalty for failure to develop and submit the required mitigation plan. This new provision does not impose that penalty for every audit error, every missed water-saving goal or every violation of the section. It is not a statement that other existing enforcement laws disappear. 16.0122(i).