The regional planning group for most of North Texas approved a draft of its 2026 water plan highlighting the impending need for more water as the population booms — and the billions of dollars it would cost to quench the thirst.
Every five years the Texas Water Development Board’s 16 regional planning groups create plans for inclusion in the State Water Plan.
The plans includes current water needs and supplies, the projected future need for water, the identification and recommended water management strategies (and the costs and impacts of them) and more.
Region C’s nearly 1,000-page initially prepared plan and its roughly 800-page appendices were published online after the group unanimously voted to approve it during a meeting Monday.
Current water use and supplies
Region C counties include Collin, Cookie, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Freestone, Fannin, Grayson, Jack, Kaufman, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Wise and part of Henderson.
Four major water providers – Tarrant Regional Water District, Dallas Water Utilities, North Texas Municipal Water District and Upper Trinity Regional Water District – service more than 90% of the region’s municipal demand.
In 2021, Region C was home to 26% of Texas’ population but only accounted for 9.7% of the state’s water use that year, according to the plan. The population was more than 7.2 million people as of the 2020 census.
“Water use in Region C has increased significantly in recent years, primarily in response to the increasing population,” planners wrote in the report, noting about 90% of the water use in the region is for municipal supply.
About 89% of the water use in the region is surface water, most of which comes from major reservoirs in and outside the area. Groundwater can also be important, especially for rural areas.
About half the water used for municipal supply is treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants.
“Reuse supplies are increasing rapidly in the region, with several major projects recently completed or under development,” planners wrote. “It is clear that the reuse of treated wastewater will be a significant source of future water supplies for the region.”
Growing water needs
Region C’s population is expected to grow to 9.1 million in 2030 and then to more than 15.1 million in 2080, according to the plan, reflecting a substantial slowing in the rate of growth that’s occurred in the last five decades.
Dry-year demands, which may be 10 to 15% higher than normal-year demands, are projected to be 1.9 million acre-feet per year by 2030 and more than 3 million acre-feet per year by 2080.
A comparison of the current water supplies and the projected need for water in 2080 creates a shortage of 1.3 million acre-feet per year then, according to the plan.
“Meeting the projected water needs and leaving a reasonable reserve of planned supplies beyond projected demands will require the development of significant new water supplies for Region C over the next 50 years,” officials wrote.
Water management strategies
The region intends to use a variety of strategies to meet the increasing water needs, including conservation and reuse efforts, connection to existing supplies and new construction. Some of these strategies will develop an additional 1.89 million acre-feet per year of new water supplies by 2080.
“The supply is about 18% greater than the projected demand, leaving a reasonable reserve to provide for difficulties in developing strategies in a timely manner, droughts worse than the drought of record, greater than expected growth, and supply for needs beyond this planning horizon,” planners wrote.
The total cost of implementing all the strategies, like constructing the contentious Marvin Nichols Reservoir, connecting to Parker and Wise counties’ regional systems, expanded wetlands reuse, is approximately $49 billion.
What’s next?
The deadline for the 16 regional planning groups to submit their “initially prepared plans” to the Texas Water Development Board is Monday.
Then, each group is required to have at least one public meeting on their plan before submitting a final version in late October.
At Region C’s meeting earlier this week, members discussed potential dates in April and May to schedule their public meeting.
The final regional plans will be included in the 2027 State Water Plan.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.
