On Tuesday, February 17th, 2026, NAIOP Austin, a Commercial Real Estate Development Association, hosted a luncheon on water policy and commercial real estate. It was a growth briefing by those who understand the policy, challenges and what is happening.

If you build in Austin, Georgetown, Hays County, or anywhere in Central Texas, water is no longer a background utility. It is entitlement risk, timeline risk, capital risk and increasingly, competitive advantage.

Here’s what the Prop Lab community needs to know.

The keynote from Jeremy Mazur, Director of Infrastructure and Natural Resources Policy at Texas 2036, made one thing clear:

Texas faces two long-term challenges:

The scale is massive:

That sounds heavy, but here’s the positive shift.

Texas leadership is acting.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment dedicating $1 billion per year for 20 years to the Texas Water Fund. Lawmakers also appropriated $2.5 billion upfront to jumpstart projects.

One of the most important insights from the panel:

Texas doesn’t have a pure water shortage. It has a distribution and infrastructure challenge.

There are regions with supply. The constraint is pipes, plants, coordination, and timing.

Panelists including Walt Smith, Josh Schroeder, and Dr. Keisuke Ikehata reinforced the same theme for Austin:

Growth is happening.
Demand is real.
Infrastructure must scale to match it.

Georgetown has doubled water treatment capacity and is building new wastewater plants. Hays County is investing hundreds of millions in distribution. Regional coordination is increasing.

Water now impacts:

If you ignore water early in diligence, you are adding risk.

If you understand it early, you gain leverage.

The most sophisticated operators are already asking:

Water has officially moved to the top of the checklist.

Let’s be clear: this is not a slowdown story.

It’s a scaling story.

Thirty-one percent of projected future water supply is expected to come from conservation. That means builders who design smarter, with native landscaping, lower irrigation loads, efficient systems, which will increasingly have an edge.

If you build in Central Texas, here’s what to implement immediately:

1. Move water to the top of diligence.
Before underwriting land, confirm capacity, provider, expansion plans, and allocation status.

2. Build relationships with utility decision-makers.
City water boards, PUAs, county commissioners, and regional planners are now critical stakeholders.

3. Design for conservation as a competitive advantage.
Efficient site planning reduces friction and may accelerate approvals.

4. Track state policy heading into the next legislative session.
Groundwater regulation and regional coordination will likely intensify.

5. Think regionally, not project-by-project.
Water infrastructure is becoming basin-level and multi-jurisdictional. Winners will understand the bigger map.

This event raised bigger questions we’ll continue exploring:

In conclusion, water is a central growth variable. No pun intended. 

And for serious builders, it’s time to engage.

For more information, please reach out to NAIOP or Jeremy directly.