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Commitments and Contingencies
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2025
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments
The Company has long-term commitments to purchase water from water wholesalers. The Company also has operating and finance leases for water systems, offices, land easements, licenses, equipment, and other facilities. These commitments and leases are described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024. 
On August 16, 2022, BVRT, a majority owned subsidiary of Texas Water, through BVRT’s wholly owned subsidiary, Camino Real Utility (Camino Real), entered into a long-term water supply agreement with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority (GBRA). The Company has provided a limited guarantee to GBRA for agreed upon obligations. GBRA is a water conservation and reclamation district established by the Texas Legislature that oversees water resources for 10 counties. Under the terms of the agreement with GBRA, Camino Real is contracted to receive up to 2,419 acre-feet of potable water annually. The GBRA agreement involves four off-takers, including Camino Real. GBRA plans to extend a potable water pipeline from the City of Lockhart to the City of Mustang Ridge and surrounding areas. Camino Real is contracted to be the utility service provider in this area of the Austin metropolitan region and to provide potable water, recycled water, and wastewater services to portions of the City of Mustang Ridge and surrounding areas. In 2022, Camino Real committed $21.5 million for its share of the cost of the pipeline project. In 2023, Camino Real committed an additional $22.3 million for its share of the cost of the pipeline project. As of September 30, 2025, this committed cash has not been transferred to GBRA and is classified as part of restricted cash on the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company currently expects the committed cash to be transferred to GBRA in the third quarter of 2026.
Contingencies
From time to time, the Company is involved in various disputes and litigation matters that arise in the ordinary course of business. The status of each significant matter is reviewed and assessed for potential financial exposure. If the potential loss from any claim or legal proceeding is considered probable and the amount of the range of loss can be estimated, a liability is accrued for the estimated loss in accordance with the accounting standards for contingencies. Legal proceedings are subject to uncertainties, and the outcomes are difficult to predict. Because of such uncertainties, accruals are based on the best information available at the time.
Groundwater Contamination
The Company has undertaken litigation against third parties to recover past and future costs related to groundwater contamination in its service areas. The cost of litigation is generally expensed as incurred and any settlement is first offset against such costs. The CPUC’s general policy requires all proceeds from contamination litigation to be used first to pay transactional expenses, then to make customers whole for water treatment costs to comply with the CPUC’s water quality standards. The CPUC allows for a risk-based consideration of contamination proceeds which exceed the costs of the remediation described above and may result in some sharing of proceeds with the shareholder, determined on a case-by-case basis. The CPUC has authorized various memorandum accounts that allow the Company to track significant litigation costs and to request recovery of these costs in future filings.
The Company is a party to four separate class-action settlements with the following companies: 3M Company; E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company (n/k/a EIDP, Inc.), DuPont de Nemours, Inc., The Chemours Company, The Chemours Company FC, LLC, and Corteva, Inc. (collectively, DuPont); Tyco Fire Products LP; and BASF Corporation. These settlements are designed to resolve certain claims for PFAS contamination of drinking water in active public water systems. The Company plans to use settlement proceeds received, net of fees and expenses, to offset capital expenditures required to comply with PFAS drinking water regulations. In the second and third quarters of 2025, the Company received the first and second installments of ten unequal settlement installments from 3M Company totaling $34.8 million, net of legal fees and expenses. The remaining installments are expected to be received annually beginning in the second quarter of 2026. Proceeds from settlements with DuPont, Tyco Fire Products LP, and BASF Corporation are expected to be received beginning in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Company intends to allocate the proceeds on a prorated basis to identified PFAS projects.
Other Legal Matters
While the probable outcome of disputes and litigation matters, including those concerning groundwater contamination, cannot be predicted with any certainty, management does not believe when taking into account existing reserves, the ultimate resolution of these matters will materially affect the Company’s financial position, results of operations, or cash flows. The cost of litigation is expensed as incurred and any settlement is first offset against such costs. Any settlement in excess of the cost to litigate is accounted for on a case-by-case basis, dependent on the nature of the settlement.