Application Period for 2019 SWIFT Funding Cycle Opens December 13
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) opened the application period for the 2019 funding cycle of the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) program* on Thursday, December 13. Abridged applications will be due by February 1, 2019. The SWIFT program helps communities develop and optimize water supplies at cost-effective rates. The program provides low-interest…
Why Your Community Should Attend the ARCIT Conference!

ARCIT conferences, regional meetings and legislative drive-ins can change your community. Send someone who loves your town, is willing to go in with a positive attitude and is ready to absorb information like a sponge. He or she will come back inspired by the people they meet and the tons of ideas and examples you…
TCEQ Now Accepting Applications for the 2019 Texas Environmental Excellence Awards
The Texas Environmental Excellence Awards honor achievements in environmental preservation and protection. As the state’s highest environmental honor, the Office of the Governor and commissioners from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recognize outstanding projects from ten diverse categories: Agriculture, Civic/Community, Education, Environmental Educator of the Year, Individual, Innovative Operations/Management, Pollution Prevention, Technical/Technology, Water Conservation,…
DRAFT 2018 TxCDBG Implementation Manual & Upcoming Workshops
DRAFT 2018 TxCDBG Implementation Manual The 2018 draft TxCDBG Implementation Manual is now available. Each revised chapter or form is located to the right of the current (2017) version. Click here The attached cover letter describes the changes included in this year’s document. We welcome feedback on the draft. Please send comments/feedback to Sue.Short@TexasAgriculture.gov by…
GLO releases multiple action plan amendments for disaster relief funds
AUSTIN – Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced the first amendment to the $57.8 million action plan for Hurricane Harvey and the second amendment to the action plan for the 2016 flooding events have both been posted for public comment. The amendments make substantive changes and additions for how Community Development Block Grants for Disaster…
UT/TT Poll: Texas voters’ view of federal response to Hurricane Harvey
Texas voters’ approval toward the federal government’s response to Hurricane Harvey fell since October 2017, from 57 percent to 48 percent, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Texas Water Development Board: Water loss audit and leak detection workshops statewide in 2018
The Texas Water Development Board’s (TWDB) Water Loss Audit and Leak Detection Workshops are available to retail public water suppliers across Texas. The workshops provide water suppliers the opportunity to learn about: how water loss audits can help them implement effective water loss control programs, how to use the TWDB’s online data collection system to…
TCEQ Seeks Stakeholder Input on Upcoming Rulemaking Related to Backflow Prevention Methods and Devices
The TCEQ will conduct stakeholder meetings across the state in January to solicit informal comments on rulemaking for 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 334, Subchapter F, Landscape Irrigation – Backflow Prevention and Cross-Connection. This rulemaking is the result of petitions approved at the Oct. 4, 2017, Commissioner’s Agenda. The petitions seek to amend acceptable…
The Estimated Economic Impact of CDBG in Small and Rural Communities in Texas

ARCIT commissioned an independent economic impact analysis of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program on the Texas economy from 2012 – 2016. The report found local small and rural communities in Texas would have an overwhelming financial burden if they tried to complete much-needed core infrastructure…
El Campo CDC Receives Excellence in Economic Development Award from the International Economic Development Council
ARCIT member, El Campo City Development Corporation (CDC) won a Bronze Excellence in Economic Development Award for its Shop Local! Small Business Week Campaign, a project in the category of Paid Ad Campaign from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). The honor was presented at an awards ceremony during the IEDC Annual Conference in Toronto,…