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Control of Congress headlined a historic 2026 midterm election.
Democrats took power in the House and Senate, tallying victory after victory to repaint the electoral map in broad swaths of blue. Those victories included triumphs in the Senate and governor races in Iowa where water pollution from industrial agriculture and the state’s rising cancer rate were prominent campaign issues.
Down the ballot, voters in state and local elections were asked to approve new spending on water infrastructure or changes in water policy.
Voters, as they typically do, supported public funding for water infrastructure.
In Arkansas, voters endorsed a measure to authorize the state Natural Resources Commission to issue $500 million in general obligation bonds to finance water and wastewater systems, pollution reduction, flood control, and irrigation. The measure passed with 56 percent support after being put on the ballot by the Republican-controlled Legislature.
In Louisiana, voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution that will allow public funds to be spent on removing the part of a lead service line that rests on private property. Advocates say that the change will unlock federal funding for lead pipe replacement and speed the process of eliminating lead from drinking water in homes and businesses.
The ability of local governments to raise revenue via property taxes was at stake in Florida. Voters, by a margin of 62 to 38, approved a constitutional amendment to limit the taxable portion of a property’s value.
The change, championed by state Republican lawmakers, will cut local government property tax revenue by roughly $5 billion in 2027-28, according to a Florida House of Representatives budget analysis. An expected $8.8 billion reduction will come in 2028-29.
Some of that property tax revenue funds local water districts. Opponents argued that the amendment represents a “cost shift” – local governments will have to raise money by other means, or cut services.
Local water funding was also on the ballot in a Texas city that was recently on the brink of a water-supply emergency. Voters in Corpus Christi overwhelmingly passed a citizen-led measure to institute mandatory drought surcharges on industrial water users.
Proposition B, which passed with more than 68 percent of the vote, cancels a voluntary program that was expected to generate $6 million this year. The target of the surcharges is the Coastal Bend region’s industrial corridor – the chemical processing facilities and oil refineries whose past water payments are already the source of legal action. Corpus Christi is seeking new water sources to accommodate its industrial growth after the city’s main reservoirs nearly dried up earlier this year.
Lastly, in California voters seem likely to reject a measure to establish a new environmental review for “essential projects” like certain water, clean energy, transportation, and housing developments. The new California Environmental Quality Act process would have firmer deadlines for these projects and more restrictions on legal challenges.
With ballots still being counted, 54 percent of voters have said ‘No’ to Proposition 45.
Lead image: Kaleb Danndels directs an excavator as it pushes a pipe segment into a hole drilled through the clay. He watches to make sure the existing 6-inch diameter water main he is standing above is not damaged. The existing water main will be abandoned after the new 8-inch water main is installed. The excavator on the left pushes the pipe into the small tunnel, while the excavator on the right holds the pipe steady. Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue
