Proposition 4 passed on a 70%-30% vote last week.
The Texas population is increasing as people flee states with higher taxes. Housing subdivisions and other business buildings are popping up, and there is more concern about current and future water resources.
The Texas Water Development Board says the Texas population is projected to increase 53% between 2030 and 2080.
Proposition 4 requires the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, each state fiscal year, to deposit into the Texas Water Fund the first $1 billion of the net revenue from state sales and use taxes that exceed the first $46.5 billion of that revenue.
The Texas Water Fund will help address critical challenges including drought vulnerability, aging water systems, and increasing flood risks.
The board oversees the state's water supply and will manage the money.
Larry French is senior fellow for water policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
"This is related to developing a dependable source of money to finance projects that deal with the water challenges that we face in Texas."
The investment is seen as a historic step, marking the largest water infrastructure commitment in Texas’s 180-year history.
While widely supported, some environmental and conservative groups have raised concerns about project prioritization, potential land use impacts, and constitutional spending commitments.
French said a big need it to fix leaky pipes in city and community water systems.
"You look at some of the big cities in the state, of course, because they're big, they're water loss is big as well. So, Houston, Dallas, Austin, you can kind of go through the list, San Antonio. All could benefit from being eligible to tap into this Texas Water Fund."
Some other ways the money can help include the desalination of water and projects for wastewater and flooding.
