Elephant is not in room, but headed east

The rights Texarkana, Texas, holds to Wright Patman Lake’s water has been in the news recently, mostly because the city has to find a way to pay for them.

With a $28 million bill looming, this is no easy feat. But hang onto them we must. These water rights are too valuable to lose.

Earlier articles have outlined how this issue slipped up on city officials. But other factors played a role, as well. Most prominently, an overriding regional focus on unpopular plans to build Marvin Nichols Reservoir. That was where the battle lines were drawn for so many years. It masked another incursion that was coming our way.

Yes, Marvin Nichols was a major piece in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex’s plan to ensure its water future. But it wasn’t the only piece. Wright Patman was also a target.

Over the years, this was often portrayed as an either/or option. Either the Metroplex could get water from Marvin Nichols, or it could get it from Wright Patman—and Patman always seemed to end up in the other alternatives column, almost a second-tier option.

But the real answer was both: It would take both and maybe more to quench the Region C thirst that Dallas and the Metroplex represent. Wright Patman was a big part of the plan.

As Steve Mayo, the city’s water liaison, puts it: “They know a lot more about us than we do.”

The Metroplex has designs on Marvin Nichols, Wright Patman and practically any dip in the landscape between Dallas and Texarkana that will hold a few gallons of water.

“The giant invisible elephant in the room is the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, which is looking for water anywhere it can get it,” Steve Nipper told the Gazette recently. Nipper is head of the Southwest Arkansas Water District, the agency tasked with selling water from another Army Corps of Engineers property north of here: Millwood Lake.

Each side of Texarkana has the ability to tap into a valuable resources and position themselves to be sellers rather than buyers when the time comes. These cities and this region will rue the day if they let these water options get away.

Having excess water or water rights is only valuable if the ownership has a measurable need, or someone else does.

That somebody else is the Dallas Metroplex. As it relates to size, an elephant in the room, or rather a petting zoo, is a fair comparison. But it’s hardly invisible anymore, though its tactics may be. The Metroplex’s projected need over the next 50 years makes the path between here and Dallas seem like bathhouse row in Hot Springs—one reservoir after another on the map.

No one in this corner of the state is trying to deny the Metroplex a way to meet its projected need, although some options are certainly less invasive to our landscape and lifestyle than others. But we also would like to see a return on our investment, and on our favorable position when it comes to water resources.

Many of us have always believed that expanding Wright Patman Lake and piping water westward was a better option than building Marvin Nichols Reservoir. And it’s not like the Metroplex is without means.

They have the resources to pay for this water, to build reservoirs, pipelines, pump stations, whatever. They have anticipated their needs and have been saving for it. But like any other group of businessmen, if there are ways of lowering their costs, they will seek them out with due diligence. If they don’t have to pay for water, only infrastructure, it is better for them.

We don’t have a lot in this corner of the state, let’s be honest. It’s not like oil is gushing out of the ground or industries are stampeding to our doorstep. We shouldn’t get squeezed out of what little we do have.

Know this, too. We are pretty much alone in this. People who should have been looking out for our interests did not do a very good job. People who should be sympathetic to our interests now are showing a distinct inclination to turn the other way.

One critical observer called these newest revelations the beginning of a war over water. Certainly, some battles are brewing on the horizon.

But know this, too: As wars go, they must be financed. As wars go, this is one we don’t want to lose.