Water planning group discusses stream flow study

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

January 22, 2004 -- With an unanimous vote, members of the North East Texas Regional Water Planning Group (NETRWPG) kept their present executive board members during the NETRWPG meeting on Jan. 14, in Gilmer.

Re-elected executive members are Tony Williams, chairman; John Bradley, vice chairman; Terry Winn, secretary; and two at-large members, Richard LeTourneau and Steve Dean.

The board also elected two members to serve as liaisons to adjacent regional water planning groups. Jim Thompson will represent the group in Region C, and Mendy Rabicoff will represent the group in Region I.

Planning group members were introduced to a Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) hydrologist, Dr. Eugene Yang, who gave a presentation on stream flow data, which could be useful to the group in the future. Making the introduction was TWDB liaison Virginia Towles.

Towles said the intent of the TWDB is to provide regions with detailed quantitative information and inform them about how they will be affected regarding stream flow in area river basins.

This detailed study focuses only on stream flow, not habitat, according to Towles.

"We want to select several locations on the rivers ... and figure out what the flow was in the past, current, and future," Yang said.

To do this, control points must be identified on the river.

"Each region needs three to five points in each basin," Yang added. "For this region (Region D), you have four basins: Red River, Sulphur, Cypress, and Sabine. That would be up to 20 points."

Yang explained the data provided by the regions will be utilized in a water availability model, which would use the points to decide how stream flow will be affected in the future and develop strategies to address these conditions.

NETRWPG Chairman Williams asked consultant Ray Fleming if he could coordinate with the river basins, meet with TWDB staff, and at the next meeting recommend the points. Fleming said he could.

The board also discussed additional supplemental state funding for preparation of the 2006 regional water plans. Williams brought up the subject of the city of Kilgore, who would like to sell water effluent from their wastewater treatment center for oil production.

Williams said Kilgore is currently selling potable water to inject into oil wells for flushing. This is "water that will never be recovered," he said.

A study is being conducted about using water from the wastewater plant.

"If a feasibility study proves this can be done, then the city would be willing to help other cities with the same project," Williams cited.

An approval of the sale will be needed by several state agencies.

Other money matters was a study to see if very small water systems in the region, that are on groundwater systems, could merge into a larger water district, and the continuation of analyzing and comparing per capita usage for some of the largest water-consuming districts in the region to see why their consumption is so much more than others in the district.

Next month's meeting, which begins at 2 p.m., will be moved to the Mount Pleasant Civic Center.