Compact with Texans
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is the state’s primary water
planning and financing agency whose main responsibilities are threefold:
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Collect and disseminate water-related
data,
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Plan for the development of the state’s
water resources, and;
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Administer cost-effective financing
programs.
Since 1957, the agency has been charged with planning for the state’s water
needs. With the passage of Senate Bill 1 during the 75th Texas Legislature,
the TWDB has stepped into an even greater leadership role: guiding, enabling
and supporting the state’s water resources development.
The TWDB's Mission
The TWDB’s mission is to provide leadership, planning,
financial assistance, information and education for the conservation
and responsible development of Water for Texas. In performing
these responsibilities, the TWDB strives to achieve excellence
in meeting and exceeding customer expectations and to provide
information and services in a highly professional and timely manner.
To attain these goals, the TWDB is committed to encouraging customer
feedback on products and services provided, and to the continual
evaluation of our programs to ensure they meet the needs of our
customers.
In recognition of our dedication to customer service, the TWDB is pleased
to make available to customers this Compact with Texans, outlining the agency’s
customer service initiatives and goals. This Compact briefly summarizes
the programs and services the agency offers, along with corresponding links
to locate this information on the agency’s web site; identifies who to contact;
and describes the process for making a complaint or requesting information
from the agency. The TWDB pledges to put forth its best efforts to abide by
these service principles in order to provide customers a pleasant service
experience with the agency.
The TWDB’s Program and Service Offering
The TWDB currently provides the following programs and services to customers.
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Financial
Assistance: Provides loans to local governments
for water supply and water quality projects, including wastewater treatment
and nonpoint source pollution control; flood control projects, including
beach renourishment; and agricultural water conservation projects. For
more information please call (512) 463-7857 or link to the Financial Assistance
section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
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Economically
Distressed Areas Program (EDAP): Provides grants and loans for the
water and wastewater needs of the state’s economically distressed areas
that lack adequate water or wastewater service. For more information please
call (512) 463-7509 or link to the EDAP section of the TWDB web site by
clicking on the link above.
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Data Collection:
Collects data on the occurrence, quality, and availability of fresh waters
in Texas. For more information please call (512) 936-2385 or link to the
Data section of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
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Research and Planning Grants: Provides agricultural
water conservation funding and water-related research
and regional facility planning grants. For more information please
call (512) 463-3154 or link to the Research and Planning Grants sections
of the TWDB web site by clicking on the appropriate links above.
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Regional
& State Water Planning: Guides the development
of regional water plans; conducts studies and creates models of Texas’
surface and groundwater resources; projects future water availability;
incorporates regional water plans into a statewide water plan for the
orderly development, management and conservation of the state’s water
resources. For more information please call (512) 936-0813 or link to
the Regional Water Planning section of the TWDB web site by clicking on
the link above.
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Environmental Studies:
Collects data and conducts studies concerning the freshwater needs of
the state’s bays and estuaries. For more information please call (512)
936-0815 or link to the Environmental Data section of the TWDB web site
by clicking on the link above.
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Water
Bank: Administers the Texas Water Bank, which
facilitates the transfer, sale or lease of water and water rights throughout
the state, and administers the Texas Water Trust, where water rights are
held for environmental flow maintenance purposes. For more information
please call (512) 936-0857 or link to the Water Bank section of the TWDB
web site by clicking on the link above.
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Texas
Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS):
Maintains a centralized data bank of information on the state’s natural
resources and manages the Strategic Mapping Initiative, a Texas based,
public and private sector cost-sharing program that produces large-scale
computerized base maps describing basic geographic features of Texas.
For more information please call (512) 463-8051 or link to the TNRIS section
of the TWDB web site by clicking on the link above.
Complaint-Handling Process
A formal, written complaint regarding any of the TWDB’s
programs and services may be submitted to Leslie Anderson, Communications Director, P.O. Box 13231, Austin,
TX 78711-3231. The complaint will be evaluated and forwarded
to the appropriate program area for a response. The response
to a formal written complaint generally will be completed
within five working days of receipt of the complaint. If
a resolution is not possible within five working days, a
written response to the complainant shall indicate when
a resolution may be expected.
Information Requests
The TWDB strives to provide prompt, accurate and reliable
information to our customers. Formal, written requests for
information generally will be addressed within five working
days of receipt of the request. Requests received via email
or by phone will generally be responded to within two working
days. All program areas within the TWDB have specific response
and/or turnaround times for delivery of services. If a program
area is not able to respond to a request for information
within the allotted timeframe, a follow-up response to the
requestor shall indicate a sufficient turnaround time to
handle the request. However, if a response to an inquiry
is not obtained within five working days, please contact
Leslie Anderson,
Communications Director, P.O. Box 13231, Austin, TX 78711-3231,
512-463-7855. (phone)
Open Records Requests
Public Information Act requests may be submitted via mail, fax, email
or hand-delivery. The TWDB answers all requests for information within
the timelines and through the procedures established in the Public
Information Act. Requests should be sent to Leslie Anderson, P.O. Box 13231, Austin, Texas 78711-3231, 512-475-2053 (fax).
The TWDB seeks to provide information to customers in an accessible and easy-to-use
format. The agency recognizes the technology and convenience of the World
Wide Web as being a valuable tool for data collection and dissemination and
interaction with our customers, legislators, local, state and federal public
servants and the general public. Therefore, the continual improvement, enhancement
and maintenance of the agency’s web site are top priorities for the TWDB.
The agency web site offers customers an expansive amount of information,
and utilizes the Internet for distribution of TWDB information and services.
The TWDB web site attempts to adhere to the following goals:
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Quick load time simulation of 15 seconds per page using
a 28.8 kbps data modem,
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Easy and intuitive site navigation,
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Compliance with Priority 1 Standards for Accessibility
to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
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Linking and indexing to related sites,
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File size notation for downloadable documents, images,
video and audio,
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Updated data and information provided in a timely fashion,
with dates indicating when web pages were last updated,
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Documents posted to the web available in Adobe Acrobat
(.pdf), HTML, or ASCII format, and;
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Immediate and convenient customer feedback provided via
email links and customer survey mechanisms.
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