This post is part of the Water Finance Exchange 2022 Partner Spotlight Series, where we highlight the work of organizations that contribute valuable work and ideas to the water policy and infrastructure financing sector. We are pleased to share the first post in the series, featuring the Texas Water Foundation.
The Texas Water Foundation (TWF) was founded in 1998, shortly after the passage of the Brown-Lewis water Management Plan in 1997. This legislation fundamentally changed how the state conducted water planning, as it moved from a top-down approach to a bottom-up perspective. Senator Buster Brown, who led the bill’s passage through the state legislature, then established the Texas Water Foundation as a non-profit organization that would serve as a statewide leader to implement the goals of the Brown-Lewis Water Management Plan and focus on the value of water.
Over the past 20 years, the TWF’s mission to lead Texas to a sustainable water future has grown and evolved to focus on public awareness, building leadership in the water sector, and water conservation. Recently, TWF has broadened its operations, allowing the organization to serve as a statewide water umbrella organization that can act as a convener of stakeholders and advance policy conversations.
Today, the TWF is building on its roots in public awareness, such as the Texas Runs on Water Campaign, and expanded its focus toward equity and diversity, water access, and systemic water management issues across the state. As the organization looks to the next decade of water in Texas, it has returned to the foundational concept that the TWF invests in people.
This post was created after speaking with Sarah Schlessinger, CEO of the Texas Water Foundation. An audio interview between Sarah Schlessinger and Hank Habicht, Co-Founder of the Water Finance Exchange can be found below.