In 1997 the 75th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1 (SB1), designed to address Texas water issues. With the passage of SB1, the legislature put into place a grassroots regional process to plan for future water needs of all Texans. The state water plan is based on a "bottom-up" consensus-driven approach to water planning that reviews water use projections and water availability.

To implement this process, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) created 16 regional water planning groups across the state and established regulations governing regional planning efforts. SB1 also called for all regional water plans to be updated every five years