The wholesale price of raw water in the San Jacinto River Authority's district will jump 9% in January, a cost that could eventually show up on Woodlands-area utility bills.
The SJRA board approved the increase at its Aug. 27 meeting as part of the agency's fiscal year 2026-27 operating budget. The raw water rate will rise from $0.66 to $0.72 per 1,000 gallons, a 9.09% increase, according to Community Impact. The current rate holds through December, with the new price taking effect in January 2027.
SJRA Controller Jamye Lewis said the increase will help fund projects in the agency's Highlands division, which operates more than 27 miles of channels and pump stations originally built in the 1940s. Lewis told the board "the focus was on making sure the divisions can provide high levels of service to customers rather than generating revenue."
The Highlands division accounts for $18.8 million of the raw water enterprise's $22.7 million total budget. The enterprise also covers flood management ($1.14 million), Lake Conroe operations ($2.6 million) and general administration ($72,712).
Groundwater Reduction Plan rates hold steady
Rates under the Groundwater Reduction Plan (GRP), which directly supplies water to municipal utility districts in The Woodlands and across the region, will not change. The groundwater pumping fee stays at $2.51 per 1,000 gallons and the surface water fee at $3.10 per 1,000 gallons.
The SJRA's Woodlands Division has served the community's 11 MUDs for more than 50 years, operating 37 water wells, six elevated storage tanks and more than 140 miles of transmission line, according to the agency.
What it means for residents
The raw water rate is a wholesale charge paid by utilities and MUDs, not a line item on residential bills. How much of the increase reaches homeowners depends on each district's pass-through structure. No MUD or utility has announced a retail rate adjustment tied to this change. The SJRA operates nine divisions with separate budgets, and customers pay only for the division where they are located.
Water costs in The Woodlands are already a moving target. Woodlands Water Agency General Manager Erich Peterson said in March, while discussing the agency's revised 10-year infrastructure plan, that the agency has no immediate plans for a bond election but that "users could see increases to their water rates in the future, as a MUD cannot raise its tax rate by more than 3.5% each year without voter approval."
Lewis noted at the SJRA's July 23 meeting that the Highlands division saw little investment from 1990 to 2008. New management began addressing the aging infrastructure in 2012 with the passage of four bonds.
GRP rates will not change. For Woodlands-area MUD customers, that is the line that matters most on next year's bills.
