Area continues its fight for water rights

Yet another attempt by the water thirsty Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to look eastward into Northeast Texas to sate their water needs has come in the form of the sale of water from Lake of the Pines to satisfy their thirst.

The Northeast Texas Municipal Water District, and its director Wayne Owen, has announced plans to sell water from the Lake of the Pines to the North Texas Municipal Water District. (NTMWD) The NTMWD represents suburban cities in the Dallas area north and east of the City of Dallas.

In a statement released in mid-February, the NETMWD stated that despite the plan’s detractors, the sale of the water would have little impact on Lake of the Pines or Caddo Lake. The release claimed that in one single day (February 10, 2025), 1.1 billion gallons of water was released downstream, an amount equal to the amount of water all our member and customer cities used in 2024. An entire years’ worth of water was released in a single day.

That argument did not sit well with municipalities within the region with many voicing their opposition including cities, counties and local businesses.

Speaking at a recent City Council meeting in Pittsburg, Lau- ra Ashley Overdyke, the Executive Director of the Caddo Lake Institute, expressed her concern over the proposed sale citing the potential damage it would create for the Texas treasure known as Caddo Lake.

Overdyke said, “It’s kind of shocking, but true that Caddo Lake is not protected; not federally, not internationally, not at the state level. In the proposed sale of water, there are no protections for Caddo and downstream that we are aware of…We were a little surprised when we saw NETMWD had voted to move forward with talking to city councils… I will just say that the disaster would be if you sold away your water rights, and the big city became the owners.”

Also voicing their opposition to the sale were the members of the Cass County Commissioners Court. The cities of Avinger and Hughes Springs are member cities of the NETMWD. The City of Linden also has a standing agreement for water from Lake of the Pines.

In a resolution passed on February 25, the Cass County leaders expressed their concern by noting, “the sale of water rights to entities outside East Texas, including large metropolitan areas such as the Dallas Metroplex, may lead to the depletion of local water resources, increased costs for residents in the future, and diminish water security for Cass County and its residents… That the Commissioners Court strongly urges NETMWD to reject any agreements that would take water from Lake O’ the Pines by permanently selling the water rights to interests outside northeast Texas region at the expense of the future economic, environmental, and recreational communities that depend on it.”

Officials with the Caddo Lake Institute have also expressed their concern noting that withdrawing 130,000 acre feet of water from the basin could dry up the north end of Lake O’ the Pines and harm Caddo Lake.

On a more personal level are the words of visitors to the lake like David and Jerry Smith. Jerry Smith stated, “Coming to this lake is like coming home for me.” David told us, “We come from a family of eight brothers and sisters. We taught our children and our grandchildren to fish on this lake.” The two first discovered Lake of the Pines in the 70s while living in Illinois. Their father and uncle were fishing Caddo Lake for a tournament. They weren’t catching anything there, so they made the trek to Lake of the Pines to fish and they found lots of crappie. Since then, their parents bought a houseboat to stay the winters here. They then bought local property. Jerry said his mother isn’t able to make the trips anymore but is sad because she loved to fish the waters. They come to the area each year with their families to spend about three weeks. David hopes to continue the tradition and brought his 19-month-old grandson for his first fishing trip recently.

Janice Bezanson, the Senior Policy Director for the Texas Conservation Alliance drew attention to the possible negative impacts of the sale of water to the NTMWD.

Bezanson stated, “Caddo Lake is a very special place, different from all the other lakes in Texas, both in its natural habitats and the history of how it was formed. The agreement concerning flow releases should be made permanent before other Lake of the Pines water supply decisions are made, to ensure that a lake as spectacular as Caddo has the resources it needs to be healthy… When a water utility wants to obtain water from an existing reservoir, it is typical for that utility to contract with the entity that has the water rights and simply buy some water. I gather than in this case the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD), a water provider in the DFW area, is trying to actually buy the water rights, so that NTMWD would control the water in the reservoir permanently rather than simply buying a specified amount of water for a specified time.”

In an OP-ED originally published in the Longview-News Journal David Simpson, an Avinger resident and a former member of the Texas House of Representatives stated, “It’s time to choose. Will we be guardians or courtiers? Will we wisely preserve our region’s lakes for the next generation or sell them for a bowl of pottage? If the latter, brace yourself for the sucking sounds of pipes and pumps draining East Texas dry for DFW.”

Bezanson also drew attention to the seemingly unsatiable thirst of the NTMWD by noting, “Some people have claimed that selling water from Lake O’ the Pines to NTMWD would replace DFW’s demand for Marvin Nichols Reservoir. This is not accurate. The draft Region C Water Plan (called an Initially Prepared Plan), which recommends water supply projects for the DFW area, recommends that DFW water providers (1) obtain water from LOP, (2) build Marvin Nichols and take at least 80% of its yield, and also (3) obtain water by reallocating water supply in Wright Patman. The Plan does not view these sources as either/or, rather recommends that DFW water utilities develop all three sources.”

That fact alone, coupled with all the other evidence pointing to the negative impacts of the sale of Northeast Texas water rights are enough to show reason for concern for all of the people of Northeast Texas.