Region's water group elects board members

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Sept. 30, 2004 - Because some of the positions held by the North East Texas Regional Water Planning Group (NETRWPG) Executive Committee were vacated during the August meeting, new officers and at-large members were elected during the September meeting in Gilmer.

These vacancies, created by expiring board members' terms, included the positions of chairperson, secretary/treasurer, and one at-large member.

Elections also included the selection of vice chairperson and another at-large member if those positions were vacated to fill positions of chairperson, secretary/treasurer, and one at-large member.

The water planning group oversees the state's "Region D." This region is composed of 19 Northeast Texas counties, and the group has 23 voting members representing agriculture, small businesses, industries, municipalities, water districts, and environmental interests. In the great scheme of things, the group is among 16 water regions in Texas that was created by Senate Bill 1 in 1997. The role of the 16 planning groups are to prepare regional water plans for their respective areas which will detail how to conserve water supplies, meet future water supply needs, and respond to future droughts in the areas.

Officers for the board include Chair Jim Thompson of Cass County, Secretary/Treasurer Richard Letourneau of Harrison County, and At-large Officer John Durgin of Van Zandt County. Incumbent John Bradley of Marion County was re-elected to the vice-chair position. Letourneau, who previously held at at-large position, got the nod for the secretary/treasurer seat. With this nod, an at-large vacancy was created and group member Beth Wisenbaker of Hopkins County was selected to fill the vacancy.

Terms of the new executive committee will expire in January, according to the group's by-laws.

In other news, the board considered and passed the agenda item on potentially feasible water management strategies, which includes possible planning but not limited to conservation, reuse, extension and continuation of current sources, connection to groundwater and connection to existing surface water supplies.

The board also took no action on the resignation of board member Gerald Brewer of Wood County. Consideration of, and action on, this resignation is planned for the Oct. 20 NETRWPG meeting, scheduled for 2 p.m., at the Titus County Extension office in Mount Pleasant.