“We continue to believe a future agreement for the sale of water could make sense for North Texas and Northeast Texas.”
AVINGER, Texas — The North Texas Municipal Water District is pushing back on recent reports from state officials regarding the organization abandoning their proposal to buy the water rights to Lake O’ the Pines and that they’ve negotiated a new deal.
On Friday, Rep. Jay Dean released the following statement via his social media pages:
The North Texas Water District Board has negotiated a deal to get water from resources closer to them and they have abandoned their proposal to buy the water rights to Lake O’ the Pines! This was a huge group effort by the most amazing folks in Texas!
The following cities and counties acted quickly to protect their communities and passed resolutions against the sell of water rights: Jefferson, Daingerfield, Uncertain, Longview, Lone Star, Marion County, Morris County, Upshur County, Gregg County, Harrison County and Cass County. Thank you to these local leaders and thank you to all the community members who showed up repeatedly to speak at commissioners court and city council meetings!
I want to also thank Lake O’ the Pines Chamber for their tireless efforts and leadership, as well as The Caddo Institute for their support. The work by these individuals, organizations and entities will serve as a warning flag for any future attempts to take our water. We have put the entire state on notice that we are not for sale!
On Saturday, the NTMWD issued a statement on their website that contradicts what Rep. Dean said the day prior.
“Contrary to recent news reports, the North Texas Municipal Water District has not negotiated any new agreements for additional water supplies for our service area. A recent contract update with the Sabine River Authority serves as a continuation of a previous agreement, and does not provide any new water for our region. While we’re not currently in active negotiations with the Northeast Texas Municipal Water District regarding a water purchase from Lake O’ the Pines, we continue to believe a future agreement for the sale of water could make sense for North Texas and Northeast Texas.”
This is a developing story and CBS19 will update this article as more information becomes available.
