County leaders discuss future water solutions

After four months of asking North Texas cities to limit watering to twice a month, the North Texas Municipal Water district is loosening restrictions.

The district's board of directors voted Thursday to remove enhancements from its Stage 3 plan, asking cities to instead limit watering to once a week and continue to try to reduce overall usage by 10 percent.

Unexpected rainfall has boosted the district's reservoirs since the parched-dry days of November, but questions remain as to how the district will provide water to its 13 member cities with Lake Texoma still closed to pumping and the population of the district's service area expected to top out at 3.85 million people.

Two days before the board's vote, key players in Collin County government and business tackled the paradox of growth-driven water use in a region prone to drought conditions at Collin County Days 2012, held Tuesday at the Eldorado Country Club in McKinney.

Jim Parks, executive director for NTMWD, gave the sold-out crowd of business owners, city officials and legislators a recap of the recent water issues and an update on the district's plans for continuing to provide water as far as 60 years into the future.

The district hopes that future population growth will ultimately be served by bringing Lower Bois D'Arc Creek, a planned reservoir in Fannin County with slightly larger capacity than Lake Lavon, online by 2020. The ability to draw water from the Marvin Nichols and Toledo Bend reservoirs is also hoped to be accomplished at some point, likely in the next 30 to 40 years.

The biggest impediment to completing such projects, however, is the cumbersome federal permitting process, which can extend the time it takes to set up new reservoirs by as much as 30 years, Parks said.

Parks asked area leaders to convey to legislators that the permitting process must be expedited, or at least have its timeline defined, to reduce the level of uncertainty the district faces when planning water transfer projects.

"What we need from folks like you is support in Austin and on the federal level with implementation of these projects, much more so than the problem with funding, which has been the focus of the Legislature," he said.

Steve Massey, director of community services for the city of Allen, warned that despite the ultimately mild outcome of the drought crisis, the state climatologist predicts more dry years than wet years in the next 10 years. Planned rate increases from the water district -- which according to a report from the city of Plano range from 9-to-19 percent in each of the next three years -- could also put the region and even the entire state at an economic disadvantage, he said.

Massey outlined a six-point plan for the region's water use, which consists of all member cities abiding by the water district's emergency response plan, NTMWD working with other water utilities to implement strategies across municipal and regional boundaries, getting businesses and citizens involved in legislative and administrative advocacy with regard to permitting issues, remaining focused on conservation in times of no restrictions, enhancing municipal water rebate programs, and continuing educational efforts to drive down water use.

"With rates going up, we need people to pay attention and we need to try to reduce our water use," he said.

Fielding a question from the audience, Parks said he is in favor of moving away from the district's current "take-or-pay" rate structure, which requires cities to purchase a set amount of water each year whether they use it or not. However, he said, all 13 member cities must agree to the necessary contract changes.

"I don't live in the city of Allen, but if I did, if I lived close to your elevated storage tank, I might could argue that you need to charge me a lesser rate than on the far extreme of your city," he said. "There's all sorts of arguments you could get into. You just have to sit down and look at all the equity questions that are out there, and we continue to work with the cities trying to come to a consensus for a contract change."

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