"Today is a good day," began Texas billionaire and MESA water owner T. Boone Pickens echoing the sentiments of the audience as they eagerly waited for the $103 million contract between the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority (CRMWA) and MESA Water to be signed at the Plainview Country Club on June 23.
The deal gives the rights of over 211,000 surface acres-almost 4 trillion gallons-of groundwater from Pickens’ Mesa Water located in Hemphill and Roberts counties to CRMWA enabling it to supply its member cities of Amarillo, Brownfield, Borger, Lamesa, Levelland, Lubbock, O’Donnell, Pampa, Plainview, Slaton and Tahoka with water for the next few hundred years. Mr. Pickens will retain the rights to the water beneath his Roberts County ranch.
For years, many have feared that the water would be transported downstate to San Antonio; however, after looking at Lake Meredith and seeing that it was nearly gone, Pickens said he was confident that selling the water locally was the right thing to do. According to CRMWA, Lake Meredith began delivering water to its member cities in 1968 and shortly thereafter reached record depths of 101.85 feet in April of 1973. Decades of pumping it for municipal use coupled with the extreme drought have dropped it to the meager level of 35.14 feet as of June 30. Earlier this year, CRMWA was prompted to switch off the pumping and turn to groundwater from Roberts County to give the lake a chance to recover before the increased summer demand hit the pumps.
Water (and the lack of) has been making the headlines and the water rights deal couldn’t have occurred at a better time. In addition to the depleting water supply, Texas A&M recently confirmed that Texas has endured the driest February through June since record keeping began in 1895. Many cities have been forced to issue water restrictions and Amarillo is currently asking for volunteer rationing with a daily target water usage of 74 million gallons or less.
"The first time I had the water it was very exciting," said Mr. Pickens, "and now I’m experiencing two things the first day I got it I was excited. I want you to know now that I’m selling the water and it’s like the guy who had the motorboat. The first day was a great day, but when he got rid of the motorboat, it was a greater day."
"The water is staying here," he continued, "the water is where it should be."
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