{"id":1037899,"date":"2026-09-02T01:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037899\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T01:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:29:24","slug":"unincorporated-dallas-county-community-seeks-access-to-running-water-after-grass-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037899\/","title":{"rendered":"Unincorporated Dallas County community seeks access to running water after grass fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dallas \"Dallas Dallas community fights for running water<\/a> <\/p>\n

An unincorporated community in southern Dallas County that lacks access to running water is seeking a solution to bring water access to its residents. FOX 4’s Alex Boyer has more.<\/p>\n

DALLAS<\/strong> – After a grass fire in an unincorporated Dallas community was made worse by its lack of access to running water, community activists are seeking a solution to implement a water system.<\/p>\n

Sand Branch grass fire \"Smoke <\/p>\n

Smoke from a fire in the Sand Branch area of Dallas County is seen on Aug. 29, 2026. (Facebook\/Dallas County Sheriff’s Office \/ FOX Local)<\/strong><\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Sand Branch, a small community on unincorporated land in southern Dallas County, does not have access to running water or a sewage system.<\/p>\n

That lack of access to water hindered firefighters in fighting<\/a> a 10-acre grass fire that broke out in the area last Saturday.<\/p>\n

Firefighters were forced to bring in water from other cities by truck to fight the blaze.<\/p>\n

Residents of the community, which is located in a flood plain, are grandfathered in to the land. No new permanent structures can be built there.<\/p>\n

Dallas County has offered to help move residents, but many have stayed in the area.<\/p>\n

What’s New:<\/p>\n

After last weekend’s grass fire, activists in Sand Branch are looking for a way to fund a sewage system.<\/p>\n

The Water for Sand Branch coalition has drafted a bill and bond package, called the Ken Wright Infrastructure Bond, to potentially solve the community’s water issues.<\/p>\n

The proposal mirrors the Texas Essential Homestead Relief bill, which provides fiscal support for communities in an “infrastructure desert” like Sand Branch.<\/p>\n

The community would not pay property taxes but would get a rebate from the Texas General Fund to help cover the $8 million needed for water in Sand Branch.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“The bill covers water, sewer and a resident assistance fund,” Derek Avery, the co-founder and president of the Water for Sand Branch Coalition, tells FOX 4’s Alex Boyer.<\/p>\n

“Typically, the excuse from the state and other government entities is that there are not enough rate payers out here. Well, the $4.5 million that’s in the fund that the bond covered will take care of water bills and property tax increases for the next 10 years.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

Avery tells FOX 4 the Water for Sand Branch coalition has delivered a copy of the bond proposal to every Dallas County Commissioner, and hopes to have the bond approved for the Nov. 3 ballot.<\/p>\n

“This is where I grew up. This is my neighborhood,” resident Shirley Bryant said. “I love Sand Branch. I love Seagoville, but it’s just unfortunate how we have to get water.”<\/p>\n

The Source:<\/b> Information in this story comes from Sand Branch community leaders.<\/p>\n

Dallas County<\/a>Dallas County Commissioners Court<\/a>Wildfires<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas community fights for running water An unincorporated community in southern Dallas County that lacks access to running…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1037900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,7290,322616,50,12632,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5609],"class_list":["post-1037899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-county","tag-dallas-county-commissioners","tag-news","tag-organization","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wildfires"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117198861806309507","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1037900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}