Water and Special Districts

McCall has been an integral part of the development of financing tools for the conservation and development of the water resources of the State of Texas. The firm has assisted in the preparation of constitutional amendments that affect the operations of water conservation and improvement districts, municipal utility districts, port authorities and other entities in the State of Texas whose purpose is to promote the conservation and development of the water resources of the State. The firm drafted the constitutional amendment that authorized the creation of the Texas Water Development Board and continues to serve as bond counsel to the Texas Water Development Board and the Texas Water Resources Finance Authority.

The firm also has played a leading role in the drafting of legislation governing the creation of multi-jurisdictional water districts. Innovative financings for such multi-jurisdictional water districts have included the integrated pipeline financed jointly between Tarrant Regional Water District and the City of Dallas, the world’s largest man-made wetlands project financed by the North Texas Municipal Water District, a direct reuse project financed for the City of Big Spring by the Colorado River Municipal Water District, and the nation’s largest publicly-owned industrial treatment works financed by the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority.

McCall also assisted in drafting the legislation that permitted the establishment of water compacts (for example, the Red River Compact) which facilitated EPA participation in funding water treatment plant construction for local users.

The use of water districts as a catalyst for development occurs throughout Texas, and the firm has been actively involved in such efforts as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriters’ counsel, particularly in the Austin, Houston and North Texas regions of Texas. The firm has represented numerous clients in the procedures with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality necessary for bonds to be issued for water and wastewater projects. Through its representation of the Texas Water Development Board, the firm has been involved in numerous water planning efforts for the State of Texas.