Study shows expanding lake would help
However, new reservoir needed to meet Dallas’ long-term needs
MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas—The Sulphur River Basin Authority’s Board of Directors heard a presentation on reallocation of Wright Patman Lake from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during their regular meeting Tuesday.
Rob Newman with the Corps’ Fort Worth District gave an informational brief slide show which detailed the feasibility study to determine the Tentatively Selected Plan to reallocate the lake from flood storage to water supply and raise it to 235 feet from 228.64. SRBA, which is funded by the Joint Commission for Project
Development, a group of five water districts in the Dallas Metroplex, is the non-federal sponsor for the study.
The study shows that Region C, which includes Dallas, has a need for 200,000 acre feet of water by 2040 and 600,000 acre feet by 2070. Reallocation of Wright Patman at the 235 level and the sale of that 217,000 acre feet to Region C could help, the study shows, but would not be enough for a long-term solution. The study shows the possibility of creating the Marvin Nichols Reservoir in the upper Sulphur River Basin to meet those additional needs. It also shows the environmental impacts of raising the lake to cost almost $97 million and that it would be cheaper to build Marvin Nichols rather than reallocate Wright Patman.
The annual cost per acre feet of water for total new yield for Marvin Nichols is $753 and the cost of reallocation of Wright Patman at the 235 level is $975. Before reallocation could occur, Newman said the dam safety studies would have to be complete as well.
“The biggest part of this solution is, I don’t think you could build a new reservoir in time to meet 2040 water demand and we could do the reallocation in that amount of time,” he said. “Still, reallocation’s not easy, either. Getting through it and all the dam safety fixes, moving rec facilities, building pipelines is tine consuming, but it’s less time consuming than building and buying all the land and going through the process for a new water rights permit for a new reservoir.”
He said that at this time, they are recommending the reallocation at an elevation of 235 due to it being more socially acceptable than building a new reservoir and that it helps meet the total need while minimizing total impacts to private property. The draft report will also include the analysis of a potential new reservoir in the basin to be built after reallocation. Newman said the cost for the final draft report has yet to be determined, and that if JCPD approves funding for it, it could be ready for public review in four to five months after they receive the money.
The information brief is available on SRBA’s website, www.srbatx.org.
During public comments, several people spoke against reallocation, including Bill Kessinger, resident mill manager at Graphic Packaging International (formerly International Paper) in Domino, who said it would negatively affect their operations.
“If this Tentatively Selected Plan is upheld and Lake Wright Patman is raised to 235 feet, followed by construction of Marvin Nichols Reservoir in the Sulphur River Basin, operations at our facility will be negatively affected by the impact on two of the main resources we need to manufacture our product—fiber and water,” he said, then thanked the corps and local planning groups in planning for future water demand strategies. “At the Graphic Packaging Texarkana Mill, we believe that the plan proposed here today represents a threat to our long-term operational plan. I urge you to reconsider the recommendations in today’s presentation and continue to seek a strategy that protects the interests of the people and the industries that support us— both current and future—in Northeast Texas.”
Jeff Lewis, attorney for the city of Texarkana, Texas, also spoke during public comments and said they need to be involved in the process and that SRBA had floated the idea of involving the city council in the river authority’s meetings with the corps.
“I would suggest that is a great idea, because as has been stated during this meeting, Texarkana is the long-term non-federal sponsor for what was called Lake Texarkana through contracts that we have with the U.S. government,” Lewis said. “I think we can show that if there is going to be reallocation, we have need for those reallocated waters as well.”
In other business, the board also hired Meg Shelton of Hughes Springs as executive director. She is a 2014 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law and a 2010 graduate of the University of Alabama. She most recently worked for Benefit Concepts in Columbus, Miss. as general counsel for the chief compliance officer.
Shelton is married to Ricky Shelton, who serves assistant district attorney in Morris County. She will begin April 1.
The next meeting will be held April 25 at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center, 1800 N. Jefferson, Mount Pleasant, Texas.