Good morning. Thank you so much, NADBank. Thank you, Jesse. Thank you, John. I really appreciate the invitation, and to my esteemed colleagues on the stage, many of them I know from my many years in the Rio Grande Valley, it’s great to see all of you.
From my esteemed colleagues from the U.S. government as well as districts, it's great to be with all of you today because I know everyone on the stage as well as everyone in the audience, we are all water champions, and so I think we should give ourselves a round of applause for our commitments.
Congratulations on this binational summit and the discussion of these important border issues facing the United States and Mexico. During the last legislative session, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 500, which provided over a billion dollars for water supply infrastructure in Texas. We're fortunate at the Texas Water Development Board. Our sole mission is to secure a water future for Texas. It's a big job, but with partners like NADBank and our incredible staff growth for the challenge.
At the Texas Water Development Board, we have worked to implement this historic investment in water, and we recognize the critical importance of advocating for water conservation in the Rio Grande Valley. As a result, irrigation canal lining and canal conversion projects, as you saw in the video, are included as an eligible funding category under our water and supply information grant program.
The Texas Water Development Board has allocated up to $100 million to partner with NADBank to fund these projects, providing approximately 44,000 acre-feet of water, saving Texas communities, and many of these projects may not have been able to be advanced without this type of additional funding.
Our board will too consider in September these projects for formal consideration through our three-member board, and that will happen this September. I must say that these projects, consisting of lining thousands of feet of earthen canals that serve irrigation districts in certain cities along the border, (are worthy of support). Also, there are projects for converting open canals to pipelines, which support support farmland in these areas.
While we look for new water slides, I do think it's important that we conserve our existing supplies as well. These projects help with utilizing what we have, (so that we)can be more efficient and deliver water more effectively. It helps us conserve, be cost effective, reduce water loss, improve system efficiency, and more importantly, help our agricultural producers, which is very important to Texas. I want to thank this legislature and Governor Abbott for their foresight, and thanks to this wonderful and amazing staff of the Texas Water Development Board for their commitment to securing a future water for Texas and their innovative ideas for this partnership with NADBank.
And again, my sincere congratulations and thank you to NADBank and NADBank’s board for partnering with the Texas Water Development Board in this important initiative. Thank you so much.
Editor's Note: The above remarks were delieved by L'Oreal Stepney, chairwoman of the Texas Water Development Board, at the North American Development Bank's 2026 Summit. The event was held at the Kimpton Santo hotel in downtown San Antonio. Stepney spoke from the podium soon after NADBank Manging Director John Beckham announced a $164 million investment in water conservation projects in South Texas.
