DALLAS -- Officials said Wednesday they are considering building a pipeline to pump 300,000 acre feet of water from the Toledo Bend Reservoir in southeast Texas to Dallas-Fort Worth in what could be the most expensive, yet speediest plan yet to quench the swelling metropolitan area's thirst.

The plan being studied would provide the Dallas-Fort Worth area with a 15-year supply of water and early estimates show it could cost about $1.6 billion, said Jim Oliver, general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District. "It will be the biggest deal so far," Oliver said. "It would rank No. 1 as far as water deals and bringing water to the Metroplex."

Oliver said the Tarrant water district, the City of Dallas and the North Texas Municipal Water District are discussing a cost-share plan with the Sabine River Authority of Texas, which manages Texas' share of Toledo Bend, a man-made lake on the Louisiana border known for record-sized catfish and bass.

Discussions began last year as Sabine officials searched for ways to meet the future water needs of Longview and Kilgore, and the growing needs of its northern basin, which includes portions of Collin County and Rockwall County, the fastest-growing county in the nation, said Jerry Clark, the Sabine authority's general manager.

"We knew we had some shortages up there. We knew we had to send some water up north," Clark said. "What we're trying to do first of all is take care of our own basin. It becomes a matter of trying to spread those costs ... so we don't wind up having to charge our customers in the basin some sort of unmanageable price."

Clark said the proposed pipeline would run from Toledo Bend, probably to Lake Fork in East Texas, where it would supply the East Texas customers and enter the Dallas area water system through a pipeline already under construction that's expected to be finished within the next two years.

"We've got enough of a cursory review in house that we think it's feasible and all parties are interested," Clark said. He said the Sabine authority applied several months ago to the state's environmental agency for a permit to sell the 300,000 acre feet from Toledo Bend. The Sabine authority's board is expected to vote next week on conducting a formal feasibility study.

Oliver said Dallas and the Tarrant and North Texas water districts are already conducting feasibility and economic studies. Piping water from Toledo Bend would be a much faster way of meeting Dallas-Fort Worth needs than building the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir, which environmentalists and logging companies have opposed. The $1.6 billion reservoir, which would flood about 72,000 acres in Red River County to transfer 161 billion gallons of water every year to the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, could take decades to build, Oliver said.

By contrast, water from Toledo Bend could be flowing from faucets in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by 2015, Oliver said. But even if the pipeline is approved, other water options, including the reservoir, would still be considered, he said.

To ease any concerns about the sale of East Texas water to Dallas-Fort Worth, Oliver said the water districts will likely promise the Sabine authority to help out if the region ever needs water in the future. "We don't think there's much chance that's going to happen, they've got so much water," Oliver said. "But we'll give them assurances that we're not going to suck all the water out of their basin and leave them high and dry."