Since 2021, Presidio County has been working with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to obtain funding on behalf of the rural communities located within the County, which is located on the western edge of Texas near Big Bend National Park. Constituent communities include the colonias Candelaria, Shafter, Redford, and Ruidosa, as well as the City of Marfa, which has become a destination for artists and tourists.
Together, these communities formed the 39-member Presidio County Water Infrastructure Steering Committee (the County Committee). The County Committee seeks to prioritize much-needed projects on behalf of its constituent unincorporated communities. This includes colonias located within Presidio County; colonias are a type of unincorporated community located within close proximity to the United States-Mexico border and who historically lack access to resilient infrastructure, including housing, drinking water, and wastewater systems.
The County Committee’s novel approach enables the County to take ownership of its shared water infrastructure needs and allows for scaled support to communities like colonias that are often excluded from participating in significant community investment opportunities like the State Revolving Fund.
Water and wastewater projects identified by the County Committee are expected to improve the lives of community members through meaningful investment in their water and wastewater needs. These projects include first-time water connections and improved water treatment for arsenic-contaminated water. In turn, these investments are expected to pay dividends in the form of strengthened public health, which in turn meets a prerequisite need for economic development.
In 2022, the County Committee was invited by the TWDB to submit a full application for approximately $15 million in funding for numerous groundwater and drinking water facilities located throughout the participating communities. However, the closing of this combination of grant and loan funding hit a snag when Presidio County was unable to complete its annual audit timely.
TWDB requires receipt of these audits among other documents as routine financial management policy, but like many rural counties, staff at Presidio County are under-resourced and overworked. Additionally, these documentation requirements can present an overwhelming burden to communities who have not previously had the opportunity to participate in comparable funding opportunities. In fact, in the case of Presidio County, the County Auditor and her sole assistant have many daily duties beyond the annual audit which has meant that the audit has not received timely and necessary attention.
Consequently, in order to overcome the roadblock preventing the County Committee from closing on these much-needed funds to provide for safe, healthy drinking water, Water Finance Exchange is pleased to offer Presidio County a grant in the amount of up to $5,000 to hire additional audit support. Additionally, Presidio County plans to use this opportunity to identify other accounting resources locally available. In the future, identification of additional resources and the set aside of necessary funding will enable Presidio County to complete their annual audits timely.