Lower Bois d’Arc Reservoir Project Takes Major Step Forward
North Texas Municipal Water District
TEXAS
Earlier this month, after more than 15 years of planning, the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) received an approved 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir, a 367,609-acre-foot surface water reservoir that will serve 10 counties in north Texas. Background In 2002, NTMWD recognized that its existing water sources were insufficient to sustain the region’s growing population, which is expected to double by 2060. For NTMWD, the solution was the construction of Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir. The more than $1 billion project will create the first new reservoir in Texas in a quarter of a century, which will serve 1.7 million people.
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habitat along an approximately 42-mile corridor adjacent to and connected by Bois d’Arc Creek. Financing NTMWD has spent $135 million so far on planning, permitting, engineering, and land acquisition for Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir and estimates the total cost at more than MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH TEXAS MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT.
The Permit The Corps section 404 permit program regulates the placement of material into a water of the United States—in this case, Bois d’Arc Creek—under the Clean Water Act. The permitting process requires the Corps to complete a thorough analysis of the effects of a project on the environment and evaluate potential project alternatives. In the case of
Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir, the potential alternatives evaluated included, but were not limited to, transportation of water from existing reservoirs to the development of new groundwater supplies to desalination. In the end, the Corps’ record of decision supported NTMWD’s plan to construct the reservoir—with some conditions. “With the 404 permit issued, we are ready to start work on this critical water project for our region. Reservoirs are an absolute necessity in the state of Texas, and most are man-made,” said Tom Kula, NTMWD executive director. Special permit conditions include mitigation for affected wetlands, streams, and other waters, as well as the prevention of unexpected degradation to the environment surrounding the project. In light of those conditions, NTMWD purchased the 14,960-acre Riverby Ranch, located downstream from Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir, for mitigation purposes, and it is also acquiring 1,900 acres upstream of Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir for mitigation. All in all, NTMWD projects that the reservoir and its mitigation efforts will protect in perpetuity approximately 50,170 acres of aquatic and terrestrial
