Region D OKs request from Riverbend: Water demand revision may open doors for more area business growth

MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas-The Region D Water Planning Group approved a municipal water demand revision request from Riverbend Water Resources District on

Wednesday, a move that could open doors for more industry to locate in East Texas.

In May 2016, Riverbend acquired the wet utilities at TexAmericas Center, a redevelopment authority in New Boston, Texas. Before and after that time, several businesses sought to locate there, but went elsewhere due to lack of raw water for their facilities.

Liz Fazio Hale, Riverbend executive director/CEO, said the Texas Water Development Board's current projections don't accurately reflect the need at TexAmericas and more water should be allocated in the plan to accommodate the potential growth there.

"Although the state water plan shows a projection of non-municipal demands going down over time and population going up, at some point those will cross," she said, adding that she's seen documentation from the Texas Water Development Board which shows industrial uses are going down due to technology. "While that may be true for current existing industrial users, in an area where there's rural environment and industry is coming, that does not describe what is going on with us. We're still at the beginning of that curve. To make a blanket statement that industry across the board in the state should be declining in water use really does not match Region

D, particularly if we're beginning to have industry come into the area."

Riverbend has been working with Consultant Susan Roth, who has been uncovering data in the district's 16 member entities for inclusion in a Regional Water Master

Plan. That plan includes a new water treatment facility at TexAmericas, along with another plant at Domino, Texas. She presented the projected residential and municipal water needs to the board and said the municipal portion is ready to expand exponentially.

"This area has vast areas of land. There are farms that are now being sold, being turned over into developments," Roth told the group. "This area is changing as far as immense land available. It's not like this is Dallas. This is completely different. This has lots of room for growth."

The state's regional water planning groups send their projected needs to the TWDB every five years. Region D's Walt Sears said the short turnaround in planning is beneficial, because the plan can be changed to reflect a region's growth in both residential and industrial populations.

"We've got 16 regions and once every five years, we try to get a good planning perspective on what is our industrial growth, what is our population growth," he said.

"In Region D, the population drives the municipal demand. The municipal demand is relative to all the other things within Region D. The larger conversation is about non-municipal. Non-municipal is what drives Region D." He added that water used for power generation is greater than that used for municipal purposes in all of

Region D's 19 counties combined.

"That's the reason we're on a five-year cycle, to try to deal with this uncertainty," he said of the anticipated growth at TexAmericas.

Roth also told the board of her non-municipal data findings from Riverbend's 16 member entities, and stated that residential water usage was higher than the numbers included in the draft plan. She said she pulled data from 2010 to 2015, whereas the data included in the state plan was from 2000 to 2010.

"I've pulled local meter data, just looking closer at some of the growth that's occurred in these communities," she said. "Looking at the meter counts and looking at the historical data, a lot has really changed dramatically for these communities from 2010 to 2015. It's just a more accurate snapshot of where we're at currently and moving forward."

The draft municipal, non-municipal and demand projections are due to TWDB by Jan. 12, 2018 to be included in the 2021 plan. Region D Consultant Tony Smith with Carollo Engineers will now submit those numbers to the state board.

Fazio Hale said Region D's vote to approve their revision request will bring positive change in the East Texas economy.

"The vote from the regional planning group today in favor of submitting our population and water demand projections to the Texas Water Development Board is a step in the right direction," she said. "It is a crucial step in the process and it is really vital for our region's economic growth and development."

The next Region D meeting will be held in January.

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