The West Harris County Regional Water Authority fee that appears on many home and business water bills is a fee that pays for the State mandated conversion to surface water from lakes and rivers to address the significant subsidence problems affecting the region of Harris County and other surrounding Counties. Subsidence, the sinking of land, has been a problem in Houston since the early 1900s due to heavy groundwater use. By the 1940s, it became evident that groundwater withdrawal was causing the land to subside. To address this, the Texas Legislature created the Harris Galveston Subsidence District in 1975 to regulate groundwater use. The Subsidence District has mandated the region convert to 60 percent surface water by 2025 and 80 percent by 2035 and there are very expensive penalties for failing to meet these requirements.

It takes an incredible amount of money to keep our water flowing. The fees collected not only pay for surface water, but also fund operations and maintenance, as well as providing the money needed to plan and build the water infrastructure to deliver surface water to the MUDs and Cities.

Regional water authorities, including the West Harris County Regional Water Authority which was established in 2001, were formed to manage the transition to surface water. Like most water authorities in Texas which aren’t granted taxing authority, the West Authority relies on water usage fees to fund infrastructure and pay for treating surface water from the San Jacinto River, Trinity River, and Lake Houston.

Each MUD or City in the Authority is charged for the amount of groundwater pumped from its wells as well as for the surface water the Authority delivers.

The MUDs and Cities then apply the Authority fee to their customers’ water bill. The fee is charged to all Cities, Utility Districts, and water well Owners.

The regional water authority amount shown on your water bill is based on how much water you use, and the amount of the fee may change from month to month depending on how much water a household uses.

The West Harris County Regional Water Authority fee is the same for all users within the Authority. However, SOME utility districts and cities may modify the Authority fee to cover such things as leaks in their system, flushing of fire hydrants, administrative costs, etc., which will cause an increase in the actual fee shown on your bill.

THE MORE WATER YOU USE, THE HIGHER THE FEE AMOUNT ON YOUR BILL WILL BE.

USE LESS – SAVE MORE

Visit whcrwa.com/fee to learn more about the West Harris County Regional Water Authority fee on your water bill.