As the housing subdivisions keep sprouting across yesterday's fields, two of Collin County's fastest-growing cities are lining up a new supply of water for tomorrow's faucets and lawns. In Melissa, 7,000 residential lots are awaiting construction, and officials are expecting a more than tenfold increase in population by 2010. About 5,200 lots are on the board in Anna, where the population has quadrupled since 2000.
And in the days ahead, the two cities will consider buying into a pipeline that would deliver a lifeblood of development. "Your demand for water will only increase," consultant Don Paschal told the Anna City Council last week.
The Grayson County city of Van Alstyne is also a likely participant in the project, which would bring treated water from Lake Lavon north through an area now served mostly by wells. The neighboring town of Howe may join in as well. "There's not much else you can do," said Olen Petty, Van Alstyne city manager. "With the growth that's coming, you've got to have water."
[COMMENT: Why is "growth" per se so goddamn important? Why do we need all these new people settling in North Texas? There is not enough water to sustain all the millions who are already here, for crying out loud. Don't our "leaders" get this? North Texas counties should simply enact a ban on all new residential housing construction. That would force all these J.R. and Sue Ellen Ewing wanna-bes to move somewhere else. Who needs them? There are plenty of places that these restless people can move to besides North Texas. R.]
Van Alstyne, a city of about 2,500 people, is dependent on wells. So is Anna, which is planning to add a fifth well this year to keep up with its residential surge. Building permits have increased from 22 in 2001 to 342 last year and 208 so far this year.
The pipeline is "a very big deal" for a city struggling to dig wells fast enough, said Lee Lawrence, Anna city administrator. "We have significant storage that gives us some buffer, but if we have sustained very hot and dry periods we will be cutting it close," he wrong in an email.
Melissa's immediate needs aren't as crucial. The city of about 2,200 people buys most of its water from the North Texas Municipal Water District and is staying ahead of demand. But the pipeline would become essential for a city that more than doubled its water consumption last year, city officials said. "The economic future of Melissa, as well as Anna, Van Alstyne and Howe is based on the availability of utilities," Melissa Mayor David Dorman wrote in an email. "The pipeline is one of those key elements."
Plans call for burying the pipeline near a railway linking the four cities. That artery helped fuel the area's development in the 1870s. First, the cities must agree to buy the pipeline's water from the Greater Texoma Utility authority. The Denison-based utility authority has secured $11.5 million in state loans to build the pipeline. And it has an agreement with the municipal water district to buy water from Lake Lavon, which it would resell to the cities.
The nonprofit utility authority would include in its rates the pipeline construction debt, plus management and maintenance costs. The cites in turn would add their routine charges for billing and system maintenance, but the final cost to consumers hasn't been determined, said Mr. Paschal, a consultant to the four cities. "They will probably see a slight increase, but if they had to depend on wells they'd see a bigger increase," he said.
[COMMENT: Our Northeast Texas "7-Come-11 Cities" should heed this warning. Poor little communities like Annona and Avery could see their water rates skyrocket if steamrolling scoundrels like Mike Huddleston and David Tuckfield get their way with their suspicious Wright Patman Regional Water Supply Agency. R.]
The state loans allow for deferred interest payments, enabling the cities to afford a pipeline they can grow into. And by moving away from the limited groundwater supplies, by sharing the cost of a project none could afford alone, the cities will be better prepared for growth, said Mr. Paschal, a former McKinney city manager. "It gets them water they need at the absolute best price," he said.
The issue will be on city council agendas this month. Once purchase agreements are signed, construction design can begin. The pipeline could be operating by late summer or autumn 2005 at the earliest, Mr. Paschal said.
The line would tap into the McKinney water system at an undetermined northern location. The city, like the water district's 60 other customers, receives water from Lake Lavon and would charge a pumping fee to send it along the new pipeline. That's a change from the original plan that had the cities buying water from Lake Texoma via Sherman. But the Grayson County city lacked capacity in its treatment plant to meet the pipeline cities' long-term needs, Mr. Paschal said. With a capacity of 20 million gallons of water per day, the pipeline can meet those needs for a while, he said. "The supply should carry them for 10 to 15 years."
[COMMENT: And what will they do after that? Even if Marvin Nichols is built, it, too, will be obsolete after only half a century. Then what? You tell me. R.]