Across Texas, one challenge is becoming impossible to ignore: water.

With much of the state facing prolonged drought conditions, communities are being forced to make difficult decisions about growth. In some areas, new development is slowing or even halting, not because of lack of demand, but because of limited water supply.

At Texas PACE Authority, we see this moment not just as a constraint, but as an opportunity to rethink how development happens.  The Soapy Falls Car Wash project in Travis County offers a compelling example of what that future can look like.

A Project Designed for Resource Efficiency

Currently under construction, the Soapy Falls Car Wash facility represents a modern approach to commercial development, one that prioritizes long term operational efficiency alongside financial performance.

With TX PACE financing from PACE-Equity supporting over $1.3 million in qualified improvements, the project demonstrates how energy and water saving measures can be integrated into the capital stack in a way that strengthens both the asset and the community.

The project’s strong savings to investment ratio of 2.95 reinforces what we continue to see across Texas: sustainability investments are not just environmentally responsible; they are financially sound.

The Critical Role of Water Reclamation

At the center of this project is a high-impact feature: an advanced Velocity water reclamation system designed to reduce overall water demand by approximately 60%.

In a water-intensive business like a car wash, that level of reduction is significant. The system captures wash water and routes it through a multi-stage reclaim process, beginning with underground settling tanks where dirt, sand, and debris are separated. The water is then filtered and treated to remove suspended solids, oils, and other contaminants before being reused throughout the wash tunnel.

Reclaimed water is used for high-volume applications such as undercarriage wash, prep guns, presoaks, and initial rinse cycles, while fresh potable water is reserved for final rinse applications where spot-free quality is essential. This approach allows the facility to maintain wash performance and customer experience while dramatically reducing freshwater consumption.

Beyond the environmental benefit, the system also improves long-term operational efficiency by lowering utility costs, reducing strain on municipal water infrastructure, and supporting more consistent equipment performance through automated monitoring and filtration controls.

"More importantly, it directly addresses one of the biggest challenges facing development in drought-impacted regions: stewardship of water resources. By dramatically lowering consumption, systems like this do not just improve operational efficiency and reduce costs, they can help make projects viable in areas where water availability might otherwise limit or prevent development altogether", said Dub Taylor, CEO Texas PACE Authority

Enabling Growth in Water Constrained Communities

As municipalities across Texas evaluate how to manage growth responsibly, projects like Soapy Falls Car Wash highlight an important truth: Smart infrastructure can be part of the solution.

Water efficient technologies, when paired with tools like TX-PACE, give developers a path to move forward, even in constrained environments, while aligning with community priorities around conservation and resilience.

This is especially important in fast-growing regions like Pflugerville, where balancing economic development with resource management is becoming increasingly complex.

A Collaborative Effort

Projects like this do not happen in isolation. They are the result of collaboration between property owners, capital providers, engineers, and local jurisdictions working toward a shared outcome.

For Soapy Falls Car Wash, that collaboration ensured the Velocity water reclamation system was not only properly designed and integrated, but also financially feasible. TX-PACE played a key role by enabling the project to incorporate high-performance water infrastructure without increasing upfront capital constraints, allowing smarter design decisions to be made early in the process.

Through coordination across all parties, from technical review to financing and closing, the project team was able to deliver a solution that balances performance, cost, and long-term resource efficiency.

The TX-PACE Advantage

TX-PACE continues to serve as a flexible, long-term financing solution that enables property owners to invest in high performance building systems without increasing upfront capital constraints.

By aligning repayment with property tax assessments and extending terms up to 30 years, TX-PACE allows projects to:

• Reduce overall cost of capital
• Improve project feasibility
• Support long term asset performance
• Address critical infrastructure challenges, including water use

Looking Ahead

As Texas continues to navigate drought conditions and increased demand for resources, the role of innovative infrastructure will only grow more important.

The Soapy Falls Car Wash project is a clear example of how forward-thinking design, paired with the right financing tools, can help unlock development while conserving one of our most valuable resources.

At Texas PACE Authority, we are proud to support projects that not only move forward but move forward responsibly.

About Texas PACE Authority

Texas PACE Authority (TPA) is a nonprofit organization and the leading administrator of TX-PACE programs serving more than 100 cities and counties across Texas. TPA works with local governments, property owners, and capital providers to facilitate financing for energy and water efficiency, resiliency, and distributed generation improvements in commercial properties. Through its program administration and market leadership, TPA helps ensure that high-performance building solutions are accessible, scalable, and aligned with the long-term needs of Texas communities.