The City of Dallas Has Enough Water to Last Till 2035. After That, Well ...

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Nov. 25 2009 at 8:20 AM

Categories: News

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It's never too early to look at next Wednesday's city council briefing, especially when one of the subjects on deck is where and how Dallas will get its water beyond 2035. Because, see, we're all good for the next years, give or take, but according to the briefing, "Even with conservation and reuse, additional water supply sources for Dallas will be needed by 2035."

Where will it come from? Well, there's always Schutze's beloved Neches River in Anderson and Cherokee counties north of Lufkin, but there's that lawsuit in the way -- and, from the looks of the U.S. Supreme Court's docket, just last week the United States Fish and Wildlife Service was given till January to file its response. There's also Oklahoma -- but, wuh-oh, lawsuit there too, and only last week a judge partially granted Oklahoma's motion to dismiss. Which leaves, among other smaller options, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Wright Patman Lake, located in Texarkana and serving Texarkana, and the Sabine River Basin. Or Tom Hicks's house.

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There were a couple of potential East Texas lake sites (like one tentatively named Marvin Nichols), but the local opposition got the Fish & Wildlife department to designate 1 acre of bottomland in the middle of the site as a Wildlife Refuge, which means that it cannot be flooded. I think that's what the lawsuit is about. Dallas needs to move aggressively to secure these sites, and the courts will expect Dallas to start spending some money for land acquistion etc, or they'll declare it dead. Fish or cut bait. There are farmers and other land owners within the potential lake areas who have trouble selling their land because "MAYBE" the city of Dallas will someday take it and submerge it, which is not fair to the landowners if Dallas just sits on its hands and doesn't commit. The longer Dallas delays, the less likely it becomes.
Wooooo! Let's blow millions on expensive consulting and engineering studies for the next 25 years for projects we probably won't even need! Woooooooo! I love me some handing out money to politically connected civil engineering firms! Maybe we could all jack off in a circle while powerpoints of the Trans-Texxxas Water Pipeline (circa 1960s, that effer will never die) flash on the city council chamber projectors! I call dibs on being able to finish in Wick Allison's mouth along with the two black guys on council! Yay!
In McKinney, we have very strict watering standards. We can only water two specified days a week between 6PM and 9AM. Most of us do about 15-20 minutes per station in the warm months and once a week or less in the winter, just to keep the foundation healthy. If we are out of line, there are big fines! This leaves more water in the lake for others, including Dallas because our overflow water goes into Hubbard. I think we have just linked up with a lake in East Texas to bring more water to Lavon during droughts.
Steve, you hit it right. Dallas' definition of conservation is off base. Several things could be done to conserve millions of gallons daily. For example, as far as I know, there are no tax breaks or policies encouraging for native landscaping. Almost half og all the water used is for landscpaing. Imagine what could be done if that number was reduced to only a third or a quarter. Civic buildings use a lot of water. Water free technology would go a long way as well. http://www.falconwaterfree.com/products/index.htm I know Richland College has these on every campus building and I think UT-Arlington is beginning to install them as well. Replacing one urinal with a water free one saves about 30,000 gallons a year. Replacing urinals in civic buildings and using policy to encourage private entities to do the same would add up quickly. As it is, Dallas seems to say don't water your lawns between 10am & 6 pm then say we've done all we can do to conserve water. One day I was in the convention center and when I was in the restroom, I read a sign above a sink that basically said don't waste water. Sadly, the faucet below was leaking.
This metro area ranks high on the list of the most water-wasteful areas in the country. Municipalities must create incentives to conserve/disincentives to waste; and residential and commercial users have to take steps to do the same. We have to understand that fresh water, while plentiful accross the planet, is not evenly renewed and distributed; and pollution and climate change are altering those distribution/renewal patterns in ways we that are difficult to predict.
Dallas doesn't get any water directly from Lake Lavon (it goes to a water district that covers suburbs such as Garland, Plano, Frisco and others). However, Lake Lavon does flow into Lake Ray Hubbard.
As far as I know, most of the population of Collin County is in charge of sucking Lake Lavon dry.
umm.. what happened to Lake Lavon?