We're all ears. In fact, they're cleaned out and ready to hear exactly why the Dallas City Council voted last week not to participate in a study about the feasibility of a new reservoir for this region.

We are dumbfounded.

Sure, there are other potential sources of water for North Texas over the next few decades. Lake Texoma. Lake Wright Patman. Even the Texas Panhandle. Each deserves full exploration.

And those of us who live in this region must do better at conserving water. We've said that a million times and will say it a million times more.

But demographers say that 8.6 million people could live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in another 25 years and that there could be 11.6 million by 2050. The 5.3 million of us who live in North Texas now must do right by them.

That means making sure this region has plenty of water sources. And, yes, that means exploring the feasibility of a new reservoir. Water planners in this region are looking at a new one in Northeast Texas, which would be known as the Marvin Nichols Reservoir. It would provide water to Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, Collin and other North Texas counties.

But the Dallas City Council doesn't want to spend one cent to finance a study about the feasibility of this reservoir. It voted no to joining in on a study that a North Texas water planning group is pursuing.

Thank goodness the regional group has some common sense. Thank goodness it knows North Texas needs plenty of options. Thank goodness it hasn't shut the door on the Marvin Nichols Reservoir. Perhaps we won't need it, but we should keep examining it until we've reached that conclusion.

If the region needs to study alternatives like Lake Texoma along with the Marvin Nichols, then fine. Let's do it

But doing nothing isn't an option, particularly since Dallas planned well for this region's water needs in the 1950s. We in this generation can't do any less. It's a shame the Dallas City Council didn't see it that way.

TELL ALL RESERVOIR STORY

Re: "Don't Dry Up -- Dallas needs many options for the future," Editorials, Jan. 14, concerning the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir:

It sounds like you would totally disregard the citizens in the Northeast Texas area involved.

The fact is that all the many Texas government agencies, U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, State Reps. Mark Homer and Barry Telford, the majority of our towns, school districts, businesses and the majority of the citizens here are overwhelmingly opposed to this reservoir. The fact that 72,000 acres would be flooded and an additional 300,000-plus acres would be set aside for mitigation, doesn't seem to matter to you or your water planners. Well, it does matter to us. We will lose our homes, properties and our very way of life.

There are some realistic alternatives to this lake as you have stated. They can be done without our sacrifice. You mentioned conservation, but there has been nothing done about it. Your paper had an article a year ago about the city of Dallas losing 26 billion gallons of water in one year. Why?

Before pushing this lake on the metroplex, please state all the facts, such as mitigation, loss of our tax base, jobs, businesses and major sacrifice of our homes and properties in Northeast Texas.