A plan that could one day add Arkansas lake water to the supply of the North Texas Municipal Water District, which sells treated water to Melissa, moved a step closer to state review this month.
Heartland Water Partners and the Southwest Arkansas Water District submitted a joint request to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission on Nov. 6, KTAL News in Texarkana reported. Through it, Texarkana, Ashdown and Ogden are seeking state permission to sell surplus Millwood Lake water to the North Texas district.
Melissa is one of 34 customer cities and utilities on the district's water system, along with 13 member cities, according to the district.
What is on the table
The proposal would allow the Arkansas water district to lease, for 40 years, the Millwood Lake rights held by Texarkana and its partner communities, the Texarkana Gazette reported. In October, the Texarkana, Arkansas, board voted 6-0 to let the district seek approval for transfers of as much as 110 million gallons daily into Texas, Texarkana Today reported.
Texarkana City Manager Tyler Richards told about 70 people at a town hall Thursday, Nov. 12, that the deal could bring the city between $16 million and $20 million annually, topping $1 billion across the lease as prices climb, the Gazette reported. KTAL put the potential at about $21 million a year across the three communities.
The North Texas district has not agreed to buy. In an Oct. 28 announcement it said it is open to studying the purchase as one way to serve a service area whose population is expected to nearly double by 2080. Staff had held only informal talks with Heartland, and no contract terms had been discussed, the district said.
It estimated the lake could supply more than 100 million gallons a day and said the delivery point into its system has not been decided.
Concerns in Arkansas
Some Texarkana residents at the town hall worried about drought and the region's own future needs. "Is this water going to go to Dallas regardless, or are they just going to take what they need?" resident Kara Lindy told KTAL.
