Jan 25, 2006 6:26 pm US/Central
Does North Texas Need More Water Reservoirs?
by Clif Caldwell
NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 News) ―
The rapidly growing population in north Texas is threatening to put a strain on water sources.
Regional planners are proposing more reservoirs, conservation and the value of buying water from so-called water ranchers.
North Texas is surrounded by reservoirs constructed to make sure we have enough water to sustain growth.
Opponents vary in their opinions – some say we need to use what we have more effectively before we seek more, while others are offering alternative solutions.
From playing with the kids, to washing cars, and running sprinklers, water is the lifeblood of north Texas.
Currently we are getting a taste of what it's like not to have enough as drought inspired grassfires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres.
Long time oilman T. Boone Pickens says if there's a water shortage north Texas will grind to a stop. "If you don't get the water you cut off development."
Pickens wants to sell water from the Ogallala Aquifer under west Texas land he owns to either north Texas or San Antonio.
"I'll finance the whole thing and after it amortizes the cost of it, 31 years, I will then turn it over to the purchaser of the water," Pickens said.
Regional planners say Pickens and other water ranchers proposals are a part of the alternative sources of water for next 50 years.
Planners say reservoirs are less costly source than buying from water ranchers in the first few years.
But environmentalists say there's no need to consider such proposals.
Beth Johnson a Sierra Club consultant, citing regional water reports, argues we have enough water in current lakes without converting farmland into more lakes… much less buying water from profit driven water ranchers.
"We must fully utilize any existing developed source, water that's sitting there in a reservoir, before we even think of any new reservoirs or development like the Ogallala one," Johnson said.
Johnson says we're not buying all the water by Dallas area utilities from reservoirs that are currently available. Regional planners agree to a point, but qualify that statement saying all the water that's available to be bought today, will not be available in the future.
(CBS 11 News)
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