Group to hold public hearing on regional water plan

The North East Texas Regional Water Planning Group is taking comments on the adopted Initially Prepared Plan (IPP) to be used in developing an approved regional water plan.

The date of the public hearing is Jun 11 at 5:00 p.m. in the Mount Pleasant Civic Center at 1800 North Jefferson Avenue in Mount Pleasant. The hearing will be held with social distancing protocols in effect and will be conducted using telephones if the in-person public hearing scheduled cannot be held.

Also known as Region D, the group includes the counties of Bowie, Camp, Cass, Delta, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Hunt, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Rains, Red River, Titus, Upshur, Van Zandt, Wood, and parts of Smith.

In a press release, the group issued the following, “The public hearing is designed to afford the public with an opportunity to provide verbal comments. The public also has the right to provide written comments and comments via the internet. This means there are three different ways to provide comments. All comments will be considered regardless of the method used to communicate them. The coronavirus pandemic has not materially reduced the public’s opportunity to provide written or electronic comments but has disrupted the verbal method of providing comments. It thus may be necessary to use the telephone as an alternate to the in-person method to receive verbal comments due to verbal impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.”

If necessitated due to the coronavirus pandemic, the public hearing will be conducted by telephone. The proceedings via telephone will be recorded if it occurs. At the beginning of each public comment, the commenter must identify themselves by first and last name. Additional instructions during the public hearing will be provided if the public hearing is held using this method.

For further instruction on how to attend should there not be an in-person public hearing, contact Walt Sears at (903) 639- 7538, Northeast Texas Municipal Water District, P.O. Box 955, Hughes Springs, TX 75656.

A copy of the IPP is available for viewing at the Office of the County Clerk in each county located within Region D and at most public libraries within the region.

Written comments may be sent directly to the North East Texas Regional Water Planning Group to P.O. Box 955, 4180 Highway 250, Hughes Springs, TX 75656. Email comments may be sent to regiond@netmwd.com.

Written comments will be accepted through Sept. 9 for all state agencies. The deadline for comments from the public is Aug 11.