Delay not bad, director reasons

Riverbend CEO says deferring study gives chance to review plans for raising lake

The spillway on Wright Patman Lake rose to a record height recently. Just 3 or 4 feet below the top edge. Now it's down a bit.
The spillway on Wright Patman Lake rose to a record height recently. Just 3 or 4 feet below the top edge. Now it's down a bit.

The delay of a feasibility study to determine if the water level could be raised on Wright Patman Lake could be a positive thing, according to Liz Fazio Hale, executive director/CEO of Riverbend Water Resources District.

"I'm not surprised," she said of the pause in the study being performed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "I had understood before this came out that it was going to be delayed. It makes sense to delay the feasibility study until all issues concerning the ultimate rule curve are addressed and it is implemented."

That includes the completion of Cultural Resource Studies on the lake. Earlier this year, Riverbend gave the Corps $50,000 to perform a scope of work for the CRS. Hale said that is complete, and they are now waiting to hear back from the Corps on a funding agreement where Riverbend would pay the Corps to complete the studies.

"They will be combing the rim of the reservoir that will be permanently flooded when the ultimate rule curve is implemented," she said. "That portion of the work would take 8-12 months."

To begin the studies, Hale said they're looking at a cost of approximately $1.4 million, with the total study cost at a potential $14 million.

The funding agreement would allow Riverbend to be the local sponsor for the studies, but it has to be approved by the Corps.

"We have been asking for a funding agreement since July," she said. "Per our last meeting with the Corps, we anticipate a draft by the end of the year, keeping in mind that these funding agreements are standard."

The feasibility study to determine reallocation of the lake has been delayed many times since it began, primarily due to issues with both funding and the Army's Smart Planning process. It requires studies to be completed in three years and not cost more than $3 million.

The original contract between the Corps and the Sulphur River Basin Authority, the project's in-kind sponsor, began in 2005. The last completion deadline given was April 2018, but it was recently delayed at the federal level because the Corps is now seeking an exemption to the current contract. According to SRBA Consultant John Jarvis, that could delay the study, and the Tentatively Selected Plan to determine a higher lake level, up to a year.

"Now they have decided they want to have the exemption before the TSP, and this puts the TSP even further out," Jarvis said during SRBA's November meeting. "Fort Worth is trying to get things under control. Meanwhile, we've determined the best thing to do is to help them get their act back together."

The ultimate rule curve, which is 228.64 feet, is the operational level specified in the contractual obligation between the Corps and the City of Texarkana, Texas. In April, the city passed a resolution supporting Riverbend seeking water rights in the reservoir up to that level.

Currently, the lake is operated under an interim curve of 220 feet, put in place in 1969. If the level were raised to the ultimate rule curve, 80,000 to 100,000 acre feet of water would be available for permitting.

Riverbend is comprised of 16 member entities, including the City of Texarkana, Texas, which holds 180,000 acre feet of water rights in the lake. Those member entities also recently passed resolutions supporting the water district's seeking rights to additional water.

Entities in the Dallas Metroplex have long eyed East Texas and Wright Patman as a potential water source for their growing populations. SRBA is funded by many of these, including the cities of Dallas and Irving, North Texas Municipal Water District, Tarrant Regional Water District and the Upper Trinity Water District. Together, the districts make up the Joint Committee for Program Development, which gave SRBA $664,548 in 2017 for the feasibility study and $170,000 for Jarvis' salary and expenses.

Jarvis and SRBA Vice President Wally Kraft sent an email to the Corps last week asking for a meeting, but he said they haven't heard back so far.

"They're waiting to get word down from vertical," he said. "I guess they haven't had time to coordinate. During the holidays, things can be crazy anywhere, but I was hoping as early as last week to having something scheduled."

Riverbend's next meeting is scheduled for noon Dec. 13 at its offices, 228 Texas Ave., Suite A, New Boston, Texas.

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