The State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) for Rural Water and Sewer Communities

What projects can SWIFT pay for?

Only recommended projects in the current state water plan that add supply. TWDB's SWIFT program page limits eligibility to recommended water management strategy projects with a nonzero capital cost in the most recently adopted plan when abridged applications are due.

That rule has three edges small providers miss:

• Alternative strategies do not qualify unless the regional and state plans are amended to make them recommended.
• Only the components the plan lists qualify. If the plan lists a well field but no pipeline, the pipeline is out.
• Work that rehabilitates, replaces or maintains existing supply is out. An expansion qualifies only for the share that adds supply.

Eligible strategies include conservation, reuse, groundwater and seawater desalination, new pipelines, reservoirs, well fields and water rights. Money can go to planning, design, acquisition and construction.

Who can borrow SWIFT money?

A political subdivision or nonprofit water supply corporation with a project in the plan, and the ability to issue bonds. TWDB finances SWIFT only through bonds, so a borrower that cannot issue them cannot use it.

Political subdivisions on TWDB's list include cities, counties, river authorities, special law districts, water improvement and water control and improvement districts, irrigation districts and groundwater conservation districts.

What does SWIFT offer a rural utility?

A bigger interest subsidy, and a legal target for rural projects. Texas Water Code Section 15.434(b) tells TWDB to aim at least 10 percent of SWIFT money in each plan period at rural political subdivisions or agricultural water conservation, and 20 percent at conservation or reuse.

A borrower qualifies for the rural and agricultural rates if it serves 10,000 or fewer people entirely outside Census urbanized areas, or if the project provides agricultural water conservation or irrigation benefits. The Board sets subsidies each cycle.

For the 2025 cycle, the rural interest rate subsidy on a 20-year tax-exempt loan was up to 50 percent, against up to 25 percent for the standard version. SWIFT offers four structures:

• Low-interest loans, fixed for 20 to 30 years, at TWDB's cost of funds less the subsidy
• Deferred loans for planning and design, with principal and interest deferred up to eight years or until construction ends, whichever is sooner, and no added subsidy
• Board participation, where TWDB temporarily owns the excess capacity of a right-sized regional project, up to 80 percent of cost
• Multi-year commitments covering up to five years of closings

How does a rural utility get its project into the regional water plan?

Through its regional water planning group, in open meetings. Texas has 16 groups, and each adopts a regional plan that TWDB rolls into the state water plan.

Drawing on TWDB's regional water planning FAQ and its SWIFT page, the path looks like this:

1. Find your planning area with TWDB's locator map.
2. Attend group meetings and ask to join the interested parties email list. Meetings are open, with at least seven days' notice.
3. Check the plan's numbers for your system. Rural use not tied to a named water user group is lumped into "county-other," and projections can be revised early in a cycle with documented justification.
4. Ask the group to evaluate your project and recommend it as a water management strategy project with a capital cost.
5. Between plans, ask the group to amend the adopted regional plan. If an amendment adds a capital cost, the state plan must be amended too before TWDB commits SWIFT money.

Timing matters. The 2026 cycle used projects recommended in the 2026 regional water plans. TWDB adopted the 2027 State Water Plan on July 23, 2026, and the seventh planning cycle, building the 2031 regional plans, has begun. Getting in early in a cycle is easier than amending later.

Other TWDB programs, such as the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, only require a project to be consistent with the plan, not listed in it.

How does a SWIFT funding cycle run?

Abridged application, ranking, full application, then a TWDB bond sale and closing. TWDB solicits abridged applications up to twice a year. For the 2026 cycle the window ran from December 16, 2025 to February 2, 2026, with ranking in spring and closings in fall and winter 2026.

Ranking criteria include population served, a mix of urban and rural users, regionalization, the share of needs met in the first decade, local contribution, ability to repay, emergency need, readiness, and the project's effect on conservation and water loss.

A full application is due within 30 days after the Board meeting that gives the project priority. Abridged applicants need three years of Water Use Survey responses on file. Full applicants need conservation and drought contingency plans for assistance over $500,000 and a state-level environmental review.

How is SWIFT different from the new Texas Water Fund money?

SWIFT is a loan program with fixed eligibility rules. The Texas Water Fund is a pot of money that feeds programs like it. The fund can only transfer money into listed TWDB funds, SWIFT among them, per TWDB's Proposition 4 FAQ.

Voters approved Proposition 4 on November 4, 2025, per TWDB's January 2026 funding briefing. From September 1, 2027 through August 31, 2047, it sends up to $1 billion a year of state sales tax revenue to the fund, if revenue clears $46.5 billion and the Legislature appropriates it.

Under Section 15.505(c), at least half of that money goes to the New Water Supply for Texas Fund, SWIFT or both. TWDB expects it to reach its programs in fall 2029.

That may grow SWIFT's capacity, but a project still has to be in the plan. Our article on the new Texas water fund money covers the rest.

Is your project ready for SWIFT?

A no on any of items 1 to 3 means SWIFT is not an option yet; a no on item 4 or 5 is work to finish before the abridged application window.

1. Is the project a recommended water management strategy project, with a capital cost, in the adopted plan?
2. Does it add supply, rather than rehabilitate or replace existing supply?
3. Can your entity issue bonds?
4. Are three years of Water Use Survey responses on file?
5. Do you have a conservation and drought contingency plan ready?

Then ask your engineer and your planning group whether every component you need is listed, and whether you meet the rural subsidy test.

A note on limits: this is general education from TWDB and state law, current as of October 2026. Subsidies, capacity and dates change each cycle, so confirm with TWDB before you plan around them.

Frequently asked questions

Can SWIFT pay to replace old water lines?

No. Work that rehabilitates, replaces or maintains existing supply is not eligible. The drinking water state revolving fund pays for upgrading and replacing water systems.

Does SWIFT offer grants?

No. SWIFT offers low-interest loans, deferred loans, Board participation and multi-year commitments. Grants are not available.

I manage a small rural water supply corporation in Central Texas, and our regional plan lists a new well field for us but not the pipeline to connect it. Can SWIFT fund both?

Only the listed components qualify, so the pipeline is out unless the plans are amended to include it before abridged applications are due. Your corporation must also be able to issue bonds.

I'm the general manager of a small Texas water district serving fewer than 10,000 people outside any urbanized area. Do we automatically get the rural interest subsidy?

You meet one qualifying test for the rural and agricultural low-interest loans, but the Board sets the subsidy each cycle. Deferred loans and Board participation carry no added subsidy, and the project must still rank within available funding.

Related resources

• Senate Bill 7 Funding for Texas Water Reuse Projects
• The Texas Water Development Fund (DFund) Loan Program: Who Can Borrow and When It Fits
• The Texas Water Development Board’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF): What It Funds and Who Qualifies
• Texas Water Infrastructure Crisis: $134 Billion Funding Gap

Is your new water supply project in the plan, or should it be?

Send us your system's supply needs and the project you have in mind. We will help you check it against the regional plan and work out what SWIFT or another TWDB program needs to see.

We specialize in:

• Funding applications and engineering reports
• Water distribution system design
• Water and sewer utility design
• Water loss and condition studies
• Capital improvement planning for small utilities
• Construction administration

Modern Engineering Solutions, McKinney, Texas. Contact: (214) 833-6748 or mod-eng.com