The Northeast [Texas] Regional Water Planning Group D approved control points for water availability modeling at its meeting Wednesday [February 18] in Mount Pleasant, after spending over an hour discussing sites along the Sulphur River Basin. The group's consulting firm, Hayter Engineering of Paris, presented a map of its selections for control points along the region's four river basins, Red, Sulphur, Cypress and Sabine. The Texas Water Development Board is requiring all regional water planning groups to select three to five control points on all the major river basins in the state in order to conduct water availability modeling.

TWDB will run the water availability modeling based on the data collected at the control points and will create a stream flow assessment to be used in the 2007 State Water Plan. The assessments will provide the region with detailed information on stream flow quantity and the impact of it.

Consultant Reeves Hayter opened the discussion by reviewing the five points chosen on the Sulphur River. He met with concern from board members as to what the points will reveal. "We're looking for data to help suggest water management strategies for the region," Hayter said. "The Water Development Board will run the model to determine the effect of the strategy at the output points we've selected."

The third suggested control point location on the Sulphur River drew the most fire, as the initial map proposed a location at the confluence of the North and South Sulphur Rivers. Hayter noted that the firm had already moved its suggested point to below the potential Marvin Nichols Reservoir dam site and above the confluence of the river with White Oak Creek near U.S. Highway 259.

Board members had varying viewpoints, asking why White Oak Creek didn't have its own control point and why the regions were limited to five points per river. "This is not an exhaustive list," explained Walt Sears, administrator for the planning group. "It asks, 'What is more important to you in each basin?' These points are only for a predictive tool. The computer simulation tells you what happens if someone takes water out of the river."

Consultant Stan Hayes further explained that the historical data will help determine if the model is producing realistic results. "To check the validity of the model, we need a reasonable feel of accuracy," he said. "We need enough points to check, but we don't need points everywhere."

Some board members expressed concern that locating a site near the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir would indicate Region D's support of the project. "We're giving the input because we don't want to defer to other agencies to do it for us," said Richard LeTourneau, member from Longview. "It seems ludicrous not to have a control point near the potential site of Marvin Nichols."

The group approved the relocation of the third control point but emphasized a desire to have six control points in order to monitor the confluence of the North and South Sulphur Rivers. Sulphur River will also have control points on the Louisiana border to reflect flow below the Wright Patman Reservoir and at a U.S. gauging station below White Oak Creek and the Sulphur River Confluence. There will be a point below Cooper Lake at the gauging station and one at a gauging station on State Hwy. 24 south of Paris.

Following an hour-long discussion and eventual approval of the Sulphur River control points, the board swiftly approved five points for each of the other three river basins in Region D. In other business, the board decided on a priority list of proposals for a funding request to the TWDB. The state agency has slightly over $1 million in additional funding for use by the water planning groups in the state.

At the January meeting, the consultants suggested a demonstration project in Kilgore to study water reuse as well as a study of the feasibility of combining smaller water supply districts into one system. A third idea was presented by board member Jim Thompson of Linden, who suggested a study on the disparity of water use levels between the cities in the region. The board voted to submit all three proposals to the state, with the per capita water usage study as its priority.

[COMMENT: Not mentioned in this news article is the fact that I complained to the board about why we even have a Region D or a Sulphur River Basin Authority if rogues like Mike Huddleston, who got kicked off both water boards last year, was able to sneak around and try to come in the back door with his Wright Patman Regional Water Supply Agency. Board member George Frost added that the local citizens felt that they were being hoodwinked, or something to that effect, by having this water agency foisted upon them without any public comment from their communities. After the meeting ended, board member John Bradley told me that Region D was working on trying to get an accurate "definition" of exactly what sort of responsibilities they have over rogues like Huddleston. They are obviously well aware of what Huddleston tried to do. He won't get away with this again. R.]