Proposed Texas reservoir continues to hang over landowners' heads after 50 years

CBS News

a day ago

For cattle rancher Eddie Belcher, his family's 900-acre plot of land in Northeast Texas is everything. The land has been owned by Belcher's family for seven generations. Although Belcher has lived in and visited cities across the country, he said nothing compares to his home in Bogata, Texas.
"I can't put into words what it's like to be raised the way we were raised," Belcher said. "This land grows on you."
Belcher built a log cabin on his land, complete with a bar named after his late father. He built it even though he knows that at some point in the next few decades, the entire area could be underwater.
The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir has been hanging over the heads of residents in Red River and Titus Counties for more than half a century. First introduced in the state's water plan in 1968, the reservoir would flood 66,000 acres of the Sulphur River Basin. Building it would require private landowners, like Belcher, to sell their land.
"I decided this is where I was going to build my house regardless," Belcher said. "I took the chance that we would beat this."
Even though the project was first proposed 57 years ago, construction hasn't started on the Marvin Nichols Reservoir. It's a fact that landowners, including Belcher, said has left the region in a sort of limbo.
"We see that with the threat of the lake over the land for decades now, many of the regional ranches have fallen into disrepair," Belcher's neighbor and cattle rancher, Dr. Jim Marshall, said. "People sort of lost hope."
But Dan Buhman, general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District, said the fact that the reservoir hasn't been built is a sign of the progress that's been made in water conservation.
"We conserve, and that pushes the need out, and so that is a win," Buhman said. "Obviously, they don't want us to come and build the lake tomorrow. And our customers, the rate payers, the people who pay their water bill, don't want us to go build an expensive supply before it's needed."
But Buhman, who also chairs the Region C Water Planning Area, said there will be a day when it will have to be built. The $7 billion project is an integral part of the region's water planning strategy in the future.
"We have looked at it every way to Sunday and said, can we conserve our way out of this growth?" Buhman said. "It's just not possible. The math says you need the water supplies."
Although critics call reservoirs outdated and inefficient, Buhman said they continue to be an important part of Region C's water supply in the future.
"Reservoirs are not an outdated strategy," Buhman said. "Absolutely, we see evaporation, that is part of the equation for a reservoir, there's no question about it. But when you compare it to all the other possibilities, they capture the water in the spring and they supply it in August when there isn't any. And that is exactly what we need."
Eighty percent of the proposed reservoir's water would go to Region C, which includes the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Twenty percent would remain in Region D.
Today, Texas is home to about 31 million people. By 2070, that's expected to grow to more than 50 million. The state's rapid growth has helped create a water shortage crisis.
"The Texas Water Development Board... their data shows, not to be alarming, but towns and cities could face a severe water shortage by 2030, if we continue with severe, prolonged drought and if there are no water solutions implemented throughout the state," said Alejandra Martinez, the Texas Tribune's environmental reporter.
A water shortage isn't just a public health risk. Without action toward increasing the state's water supply, a severe drought could cause $153 billion in economic damages annually, according to an estimate in the Texas Water Development Board's 2022 water plan.
"This session, Gov. Greg Abbott put out really early on that he wanted a Texas-size investment for water supply projects," Martinez said. "So this session, there was a big investment made towards water, $20 billion worth of investment, one of the biggest investments made by the Texas Legislature for water supply for the whole state. How that money will be distributed throughout the state is yet to be seen."
While $20 billion is a sizable investment, some experts say it isn't enough. The nonprofit Texas 2036 estimates the state needs to spend about $154 billion to secure its water supply in the coming decades.
"Water experts I talked to say this was a significant step forward," Martinez said. "But they also said, in that same vein, this is just a down payment."
Those opposed to the Marvin Nichols Reservoir are holding out hope Region C finds alternative water solutions, even as efforts to kill the project have so far failed.
"It's not that the people of Northeast Texas want to harm the people of Dallas-Fort Worth," said state Rep. Gary VanDeaver of New Boston. "They want to see the entire state thrive and continue to grow, and certainly a big piece of that is having adequate water. But what the people of Northeast Texas do want to make sure that people understand is we deserve our livelihood as well."
VanDeaver introduced a bill that would have killed the reservoir project. It ultimately failed.
In June, the Texas Water Development Board found that an interregional conflict exists between Regions C and D regarding the reservoir. The two groups met for mediation and came to an agreement that requires Region C to study another water supply strategy alongside Marvin Nichols. A new study comparing the projects would have to begin by March 2026.
The agreement also requires that no application for permitting would occur for Marvin Nichols before 2030.
Region D Water Planning Group will discuss and consider ratification of the agreement Wednesday. Region C will do the same on Oct. 6.
All of this leaves families like the Belchers and Marshalls wondering if and when they will be forced to sell their land.
"The land would lose everything," Marshall said. "The community would be gone forever, and all of this wonder we see out here in nature would literally be drowned."
Belcher said he'll continue to do what he can to oppose the project and honor his mother's wish that the land not be sold.
"There's not a price for this land," Belcher said. "You can't put a price on seven generations.