The state of Texas is divided into 16 regional water planning areas, with a water planning group in each region. Dallas, Tarrant, and 14 other counties constitute water planning Region C. Every five years the Region C Water Planning Group revises the water plan for this region. The draft “2016” Region C Plan (termed the “Initially Prepared Plan” or IPP) has been released for public comment with a comment deadline of August 23, 2015. Electronic comments may be submitted to the Planning Group at regioncwpg@trinityra.org.
- The draft 2016 Region C Plan (“Initially Prepared Plan” or IPP) contains a wealth of information on existing water supplies in the region, estimated population growth and water demands, potential water projects and water management strategies to meet anticipated water needs, existing water loss, current drought contingency plans by water suppliers in the region, and opportunities for greater water conservation.
- At the same time, the draft Region C Plan proposes a variety of proposed water infrastructure projects such as the Marvin Nichols surface water reservoir in Northeast Texas that would flood tens of thousands of acres of prime agricultural and timber lands and wildlife habitat and devastate the economy of that region. Such massive reservoir projects create unnecessary environmental, financial, and social costs and are a disincentive for water conservation. Moreover, with all the controversy surrounding such projects, they may well be unrealistic and never built, thus failing to provide anticipated water supplies.
- Increasing attention is being given by water professionals to prospects for aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) as an alternative to surface water reservoirs. ASR involves injecting water into a groundwater formation for storage until such time as it needs to be withdrawn to meet water needs. Storing water underground has the advantage of avoiding the loss of water through evaporation and eventual sedimentation that occurs with storage of water in surface reservoirs. However, even though the Region C area has been identified as a potential area for ASR, and some municipal water suppliers in the region are examining it, the draft Region C plan does not include ASR projects in its recommendations.
- While making incremental progress in water conservation, the draft Region C plan misses significant opportunities to further conservation through recommending projects to curb water loss in utility distribution systems (municipal water suppliers report a region-wide average 15% water loss in Region C, which amounts to billions of gallons of water wasted each year) and recommending universal adoption of at least “no-more-than-twice-a-week” outdoor watering restrictions for all municipal water user groups in the region (Dallas, Fort Worth, and Irving have already done the latter). The recent joint report of the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation, Water Conservation by the Yard, for example, estimates that the adoption by municipalities and others in Region C of a no-more-than-twice-a-week outdoor watering restriction could reduce water use in the region by more than 230,000 acre-feet per year by 2060, an eight percent reduction in water use from that projected for 2060 in the 2011 Region C Plan.