Northeast Texas officials called for a recent study on the Marvin Nichols Reservoir to be revised because it is biased and misleading, according to a letter obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
The Texas Water Development Board published a draft in September of its feasibility review on the proposed 66,000-acre manmade lake that would be built in northeast Texas and pump water more than 100 miles to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for an estimated $7 billion.
The reservoir was first introduced in the state water plan in 1968 and the Region C water group, which includes North Texas counties, has called for it to be constructed on Region D’s land in Franklin, Red River and Titus counties for decades.
The letter, penned by Region D water planning group Chairman Jim Thompson, was submitted as a public comment on the draft. The News requested all public comments submitted to the state water board by the Oct. 25 deadline.
Last year, the state Legislature called for a feasibility review to be completed. A final version of the review — which in its current version says the project is timely, financially and ecologically feasible — will be handed over to Gov. Greg Abbott and the legislative budget board by Jan. 5.
“The Draft Report is biased, misleading reviewed from only the Region C perspective, and fails to address public comments submitted to TWDB,” Thompson wrote in the letter.
Region D planners requested the report be revised to:
- Reflect that although the reservoir was included in Region D’s 2001 water plan, the group has openly opposed the inclusion of it as a recommended strategy in the state water plan for more than 20 years.
- Include an analysis of the impacts the project would have on agricultural and natural resources, taking into account concerns set forth in the 2021 Region D water plan.
- Delete references to studies citied in Region C’s 2021 water plan, which the water board has since said are “flawed for numerous reasons,” according to the letter, or instead include reports and information from the 2021 Region D water plan.
- Address concerns from public comments regarding the feasibility of the project.
The letter dated Oct. 22 highlights some of the critiques northeast Texans have of the study as they continue to campaign for the Marvin Nichols Reservoir to be dropped from all future water plans. While supporters of the project say it’s a solution to the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s continuing population boom and growing water needs, opponents have repeatedly cried it would wash away homes, generational land, and historic churches and cemeteries of people who wouldn’t benefit from the resources.
Region D held a special meeting Thursday to discuss the reservoir. More than 200 people attended, including representatives from Region C, in what many said was the largest meeting on the topic in roughly 20 years.
When Region C Chairman Kevin Ward spoke at the meeting, he assured attendees northeast Texans’ concerns have been heard. He referred to the reservoir as a “lightning rod for the entire state of Texas.”
“We’ve heard it so you’ve got to believe that if we thought there was another way to do what we’re trying to do right now … we’d certainly latch onto it as fast as we could,” he said, noting a project being included in a plan acts as a placeholder rather than an OK to begin developing.
Thompson said the regional groups are willing to work together to find solutions for North Texas’ water problems.
“That does not, in my opinion, in any way, form or fashion mean that I’m going to agree to Marvin Nichols because I never am,” Thompson said. “It’s a flawed project. It should not go forward. It should be removed from the state water plan.”