Texarkana, Ark., board voted last week to seek state OK to sell Millwood Lake water into Texas

Texarkana, Arkansas, took a first formal step toward selling Millwood Lake water across the state line. At a special called meeting last Tuesday, Oct. 13, the Board of Directors unanimously passed an ordinance authorizing the Southwest Arkansas Water District to apply to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission for an out-of-state transfer, the Texarkana Gazette and KTBS reported.

Mayor Allen Brown was absent. TXKtoday reported the vote as 6-0, with Assistant Mayor Ulysses Brewer presiding. TXKtoday also reported that the ordinance lets the city sign an agreement to deal only with Heartland Water Partners while the application is pending. The water district and the cities of Hope and Ashdown and the town of Ogden are also part of that agreement.

What the vote does and does not do

City Manager Tyler Richards told the board the ordinance is only the start of a long process. “It is not an agreement to sell any water. We are not bound to sell any water. We are solely exploring this further. … Any definitive sale agreement is going to have to come back before this board, and it’s a fairly lengthy process, so it’s not going to be soon,” he said, according to the Gazette.

If ANRC approves the application, the Arkansas General Assembly would still have to authorize an out-of-state transfer before water could move. Richards said the application was aimed at the commission’s next bimonthly meeting in November, and that ANRC then has 120 days to review and make a recommendation to lawmakers. TXKtoday reported the commission’s next meeting as Nov. 18 in Little Rock. Under the draft agreement, the cities must tell the water district and Heartland in writing by Nov. 1 how much water they are committing, TXKtoday reported.

How much water

The city is seeking permission to sell up to 110 million gallons a day of its Millwood rights. Richards told the board the city holds rights to about 149.8 million gallons a day, uses about 7 million gallons a day on average, and faces a state-projected 2050 demand of about 9.2 million gallons a day, the Gazette reported. A sale at that scale would leave the city with about 39.8 million gallons a day, more than four times the 2050 projection, he said.

Who would build it, and what the city might earn

Heartland Water Partners would upgrade the Millwood intake and build a 72-inch pipeline into Texas at its own cost, according to the Gazette. When the application is filed, Heartland would make a $500,000 reservation payment to the city, with another $500,000 tied to legislative approval, the Gazette reported. TXKtoday, citing Richards at the meeting, described the reservation payments as about $550,000 each, with a third payment if a final sale agreement is signed.

Richards said the project could bring $16 million to $20 million a year in extra city revenue, and that over a 40-year contract the total could exceed $1 billion once price increases are figured in, the Gazette reported. TXKtoday reported Richards’ yearly projection as $15 million to $20 million. He framed the unused water as something the city already pays for: “Either we do something with this water, or we continue to pay for it and it continues to go over the dam and eventually into the Gulf.”

Support and pushback

Former mayor and current Southwest Arkansas Water District representative Danny Gray spoke in favor, as did former city director and state Rep. Dennis Young, who said the city doesn’t have the money it needs for necessary expenses, according to TXKtoday. Ward 2 Director Laney Harris voted yes but said he wanted it on the record that any money should go to residents through water bills, streets, sidewalks and neighborhoods, not salaries, TXKtoday reported.

Shannon Rose, a Texarkana, Texas, resident, was the only public speaker against the plan, saying she objected to treating water like a commodity, according to the Gazette and KTBS. State Sen. Jimmy Hickey Jr. later said he had asked Richards to read a statement opposing the proposal and that it was not read, TXKtoday reported.