Upper Trinity Regional Water District Board Treasurer Allen McCracken reported on the truth of Texas’ water shortage during the PointBank Business Breakfast in Pilot Point on Wednesday.
McCracken opened with an update and history on Lake Ralph Hall, which will add supply to the area, before pressing that even its additional 50 million gallons a day will not stop the bleed.
“The planning for Lake Ralph Hall, which is currently under construction, started in the late ’80s,” McCracken said. “We did not receive approval from the state of Texas, until 2013. In 2021, we had actually acquired enough property that we could start construction and God will- ing, that lake will be completed in 2026.”
Ralph Hall will be the first privately owned lake in the state, allowing Upper Trinity to better control the quality of its resource.
“Most lakes allow wastewater treatment plants to be constructed around lakes, which contribute to the degradation of the water in the lake,” McCracken said. “Lake Ralph Hall will be the first lake in the state of Texas where wastewater treatment plants are prohibited for a two-mile radius around that lake.”
The supply it will provide, McCracken explained, will serve to lighten the deficit but not alleviate it.
“Even with that in mind, no one had an idea that we would see the prolific growth we would see in Denton County,” Mc-Cracken said. “Even adding 50 million gallons of water a day to Denton County, next year or possibly the year after, we still may see a shortfall of 50 million gallons a day.”
The state is going so far as to look outside the state to solve the problem.
“We are actually meeting with the governor of Arkansas to try to acquire water from Arkansas which would be piped down to Texas,” McCracken said.
He explained conservation agencies across the state are looking for ways to solve the problem, but with Texas’ current rate of growth and hostile legislation tying municipalities’ hands, the buck won’t stop until developers dot the region with ghost towns as they become unable to complete builds due to a lack of water supply.
“Our congressmen and senators have passed legislation that removes so many different controls that would allow for the constriction of development so the infrastructure could keep up,” McCracken said. “Bluntly speaking, we have a train that’s going to hit a wall. We’re literally going to see subdivisions not be completed because of the absence of water, and until that happens, our legislators won’t do anything.”
