Understanding the NFBWA Fee: What Grand Lakes Residents Need to Know
This article was published on the Grand Lakes MUD 1 website on October 7, 2024.
Newer residents within Grand Lakes County Municipal Utility District No. 1 (Grand Lakes MUD 1) have inquired, “what is this NFBWA fee on my bill?!” The Board of Directors for Grand Lakes MUD 1 wants to provide some guidance on where to find the information regarding the North Fort Bend Water Authority (“NFBWA”) fee, as well as the organization levying it on your monthly bills.
The NFBWA is a governmental entity created by the Texas Legislature that assists in converting the region within its boundaries from using groundwater to predominantly surface water in order to combat subsidence.
The NFBWA assesses a fee for both groundwater and surface water usage by residents. This fee is used by the NFBWA to fund projects intended to reduce regional subsidence and to meet legislatively mandated surface water conversion goals. You can find more information on the NFBWA and their programs at their website, www.nfbwa.com.
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The NFBWA fee that you see on your bill is not a fee levied by the MUD; it is a mandatory fee levied by the NFBWA that is passed through to you via your water bills. This fee is based solely on how much water you use in your home. From the NFBWA site:
The NFBWA fee provides our community with a groundwater reduction strategy to protect our area from subsidence. Developing alternative water supplies, like surface water, is an essential part of that plan. The vast majority of our fee is used to pay for the large-scale infrastructure projects necessary to deliver a reliable source of surface water to our community. The fee also provides surface water rights, operations, maintenance, and the administration of putting it all together.
You can see the current NFBWA fees here. The NFBWA did not increase rates in 2023 or 2024, the first time rates remained static since its inception.
Source: Grand Lakes MUD 1
