Proposed lake gets $5 million in participation funds
11 water projects on list whittled to 5; group begins 18-month plan
BY TERRIE GONZALEZ MANAGING EDITOR

At a monthly meeting of the East Texas Regional Water Planning Group (Region I) last week, a spokeswoman from the Texas Water Development Board said that her agency has authorized $5 million in participation funds for proposed Lake Columbia on Mud Creek east of Jacksonville.

Participation funds enable TWDB to assume a temporary ownership interest in a regional project when local sponsors are unable to assume debt.

Approval of the participation funds for Lake Columbia came during the February meeting of the TWDB commission and will be made available through the Angelina-Neches River Authority.

Lake Fastrill

Temple McKinnon, TWDB spokeswoman, also told the Region I planning group that her agency recently included the proposed Lake Fastrill in the a reservoir site protection study.

Plans for the proposed reservoir call for approximately 25,000 acres on the Neches River between Rusk and Palestine.

The site occupies the same footprint of land which the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated last year as a national preserve.

TWDB has filed a federal suit against the USFWS to stop land acquisition of the preserve.

During an open comment session of the public meeting, Bill Tetley, representing the Golden Triangle Sierra Club, expressed concerns about proposed Lake Fastrill.

"I am concerned about Senate Bill 675, which has the provision to name 19 unique reservoir sites in the state," he told the Cherokeean Herald in a telephone interview after the meeting. "One (of the sites) is Lake Fastrill. What a unique reservoir site means is that a landowner can't sell his land to an agency like the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department or the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The landowner can't donate it. They can use it until such time that the state decides to turn it into a reservoir."

Mr. Tetley said he stressed this point to members of Region I board group. He said he also requested that they oppose Lake Fastrill from two standpoints.

"If Lake Fastrill becomes a reservoir, then the water will leave our region and it won't come back. It will go to the Dallas area," he said. "Once the water leaves the Neches River basin, it will be transferred to the Trinity River basin."

Decreased water flow will have serious implications to bays and estuaries, as well as the Big Thicket National Preserve in Southeast Texas, he predicted.

"This will change the ecology of the habitat, and these are things that we need to think about," he said.

"The majority of the environmental groups have agreed that Lake Columbia is a good, environmentally sound reservoir," he said. "It is Lake Fastrill that is a problem."

During the telephone interview, Mr. Tetley called the Region I board "a good crew of people." He said some regional water groups allow politics to factor into decisions.

Mr. Tetley's comments were made during a public comment portion of the meeting, and board members were allowed to listen but not address his concerns.

Other action

Board members of Region I began initial steps on an 18- month plan to finalize proposals for five planning projects.

The projects include:

+Water strategies for a proposed pipeline from Toledo Bend Reservoir to Lake Fork to provide water for the Dallas area and Northeast Texas.

+ The development of regional solutions for small water suppliers unable to meet state environmental requirements.

+ A study to separate municipal water uses into residential, commercial, light industrial and institutional categories to improve water conservation planning.

+The evaluation of using water from Lake Murvaul in Panola County, instead of groundwater, to meet the growing needs of an existing TXU electrical generating plant on Martin Lake.

+ A study to document the impact of three proposed refineries and a liquid natural gas terminal in Jefferson County on water supplies in the region.

The five projects were among eleven planning proposals submitted to the TWDB for funding last year. The other six proposals were not funded for the current cycle.

The five projects will be headed by Gary Graham, a project manager with Schaumburg & Polk of Beaumont.

The Region I group includes 20 counties and 20 board members. The next meeting is June 13.