Gulf Coast Water Authority

Gulf Coast Water Authority (GCWA) provides water for industry, agriculture, and municipalities in Brazoria, Fort Bend and Galveston counties. This includes more than 185,000 customers in Galveston County alone. You can trace the beginnings of GCWA back to 1908 with the creation of the Cane and Rice Belt Irrigation Company and construction of a pump station on the Brazos River for agricultural irrigation. In 1965 the Texas Legislature established GCWA as a special water district to be a wholesale water supplier to Texas City industries. Since then it has grown to serve dozens of municipal, industrial and agricultural customers with an extensive system that delivers 200 million gallons per day. That delivery system includes: - 3 river pump stations - 315 miles of canals - A 7,800-acre-foot reservoir - 35 miles of pipelines - A 57.6 million-gallon-a-day water treatment plant that provides drinking water to most of Galveston County GCWA’s source of water is the Brazos River, which runs 840 miles through Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. Our ability to take water out of the Brazos is allowed through perpetual water rights permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and long-term stored water contracts with the Brazos River Authority (BRA). The BRA operates 11 storage reservoirs along the Brazos River. During times of low river flows, we are entitled to request release of our BRA stored water. This helps us to ensure a more reliable source of water during drought periods. GCWA is committed to deliver a reliable, cost-effective quantity and quality of water for our customers by maintaining our water deliver system, securing stored water contracts and promoting water conservation and drought resilience planning. View the GCWA social media policy on our website: http://gulfcoastwaterauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/GCWA-Social-Media-Commenting.pdf