After the fire, the Mavericks are bringing water to Sand Branch.
As we wrote over the weekend, the community of Sand Branch, which sits just outside the Dallas city limits, caught fire. The fire was so big that it took a couple of days to put out.
But as we also explained over the weekend, Sand Branch doesn’t have safe drinking water—and hasn’t for more than 40 years. Over those 40 years, some have picked up the cause periodically, only to find the prospect a lot more difficult than expected. The answer seems logical: Figure out how to get running water that is safe to use to the community. What it takes often finds itself mired in bureaucratic roadblocks.
In the meantime, volunteers and various organizations continue to bring water and attention to the issue. That includes the Dallas Mavericks, who will distribute 100 cases of water Saturday morning. The organization, a spokesperson tells me, has “maintained an ongoing relationship with the community.” This isn’t the first water distribution the organization has been a part of, and it also took time to highlight the issue in one of its Huddles last year. (You can watch that here.) We’re also told that there are plans in the works for the organization to provide “additional, more substantial assistance” in a few weeks.
In the meantime, Derek Avery, who is one of the leaders of the Water for Sand Branch Coalition, is making sure that people know there is a way to get water to the community—but it needs to be voted on by the Dallas County Commissioner’s Court. “SAND BRANCH CANNOT WAIT,” he writes on Facebook. “The Ken Wright Infrastructure Bond has been on Dallas County’s desk since June 15, 2026. After multiple fires and extreme drought, we need answers. We know the problem. We have a plan. What can Dallas County legally do NOW?”