Public meetings planned but not yet scheduled

By Angela Guillory
aguillory@casscountynow.com

The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir has been a heated battle between Region C and Region D water planning areas for many years. The issue has been in litigation since January 2012 when private parties in Region D filed suit in District Court in Travis County.
Earlier this month it was proposed that the Region C regional water planning group readopt its current regional water plan with Marvin Nichols Reservoir as a recommended water management strategy and proposes that the Region D planning group amend its plan to reflect that the conflict has been resolved.
The recommendation was made by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) who is required to resolve the conflict between the Region C and Region D regional water plans. Kevin Patteson, TWDB Executive Administrator, issued a 17 page report outlining his recommendations.
The preliminary recommendation was posted on the agency website on March 4 and provided to the chairs of the C and D regional water planning groups and the parties to the Ward Timber litigation through their attorney. 
TWDB will hold public hearings in both regions and will accept written and oral comment until April 15,  2014.
Notices will be published on the TWDB website, in the Texas Register and distributed via email.
The executive administrator will consider all comments and make a final recommendation to the board.
Following the public hearing, each regional water planning group is to meet to adopt and submit plans amended in accordance with this directive to the TWDB for approval no later than 45 days from the date of the public hearing.
Public comments are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 15 deadline as follows:
Mail: Office of General Counsel, Attn: Connie Sanders, 1700 North Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701.
Email: RegionCandD@twdb.texas.gov

Public Hearing: Oral and written comments will be accepted at the public hearings (to be scheduled and added to TWDB webpage).  It is not necessary to attend a public hearing in order for comments to be considered.  Mailed or emailed comments will be considered equally.
Patteson states, “this is a final action on the issue of Marvin Nichols as a recommended strategy in the Region C Plan; it should not be raised again in any future Region D regional water plan.”
“We will thoughtfully consider all comments before making a final recommendation to our Board in May 2014,” said Ben Munguia, Texas Water Development Board Government Relations and Communications in an email. “We look forward to resolving the conflict so that communities within the two regions - where more than a quarter of the state’s population lives -are fully eligible for assistance from the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) and are able to secure adequate future water supplies.”
This is the first time the TWDB has been asked to resolve a conflict under the statute. As the 11th Court of Appeals noted, Section 16.053(a) of the Water Code requires that a regional plan provide for the development of water resources in preparation for and in response to drought conditions in order that sufficient water will be available at a reasonable cost to ensure public health, safety, and welfare; to further economic development; and to protect the agricultural and natural resources of that particular region.
The Region C Regional Water Planning Area (Region C) includes all or parts of 16 counties.
Overlapping much of the upper portion of the Trinity River Basin, Region C also includes smaller parts of the Red, Brazos, Sulphur, and Sabine river basins.
The Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan area is centrally located in the region, and its surrounding counties are among the fastest growing in the state. Major economic sectors in the region include service, trade, manufacturing and government.
The population of Region C counties is expected to increase 96 percent by 2060 to 13 million people. The area contains approximately 26 percent of the Texas population. The 2011 Region C
Plan estimates that by 2060 an additional 1.7 million acre-feet of water per year will be needed to serve the region’s population (a total 2060 demand of 3.3 million acre-feet of water per year).
Conservation accounts for 12 percent of the projected 2060 volumes; reuse accounts for another 11 percent.
Currently, the Marvin Nichols Reservoir (Marvin Nichols) is projected to provide
490,000 acre-feet per year, or 28 percent of the projected additional water needed.
The North East Texas Regional Planning Area (Region D) encompasses all or parts of 19 counties in the north-east corner of the state. Largely rural and characterized by numerous small communities and some medium-sized municipalities, the region includes the cities of Longview, Texarkana and Greenville.
The planning area overlaps large portions of the Red, Sulphur, Cypress and Sabine river basins and smaller parts of the Trinity and Neches river basins. The main economic base in the North East Texas Region is agribusiness, including a variety of crops as well as cattle and poultry production. Timber, oil and gas, and mining are significant industries in the eastern portion of the region. In the western portion of the region, many residents are employed in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Approximately 3 percent of the state’s population resides in Region D. By 2060, Region D’s population is projected to grow 57 percent, to 1.2 million. The 2011 Region D Plan estimates that by 2060 an additional 278,000 acre-feet per year will be needed to serve the region’s population (a total 2060 demand of 839,000 acre-feet of water per year).
Because of high costs relative to the small amounts of water involved, the Region D Plan does not recommend conservation as a water management strategy. Select major water management strategies include increasing existing surface water contracts, or 60 percent of projected 2060 volumes, new surface water contracts for another 33 percent, and new groundwater supplies for 7 percent of projected 2060 volumes.
Source: Texas Water Development Board