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HUGHES SPRINGS, Texas (KETK) – The Northeast Texas Municipal Water District (NETMWD) went public to defend their potential sale of water from Lake O’ the Pines on Friday following public backlash.

Many local residents remain concerned about the impact a potential sale would have on the cities, towns and other bodies of water that Lake O’ the Pines feeds.

East Texas State Representatives Jay Dean, Cole Hefner, Gary VanDeaver spoke along with Laura-Ashley Overdyke from the Caddo Lake Institute

at a town hall discussing the potential sale in Avinger on Feb. 8.

They answered questions from residents who are concerned about Lake O’ the Pines drying up, the proposed Marvin Nichols reservoir and the future of Caddo Lake, which is fed by Lake O’ the Pines.

Those living near Lake O’ the Pines require the water their cities get from the lake for drinking water, bathing and growing plants. Even those with their own wells are worried that a sale would lower the lake level, affecting the surrounding water table and drying up their wells.

Now, NETMWD, an East Texas water district, is addressing these concerns. The water district said their discussions with the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) to sell or lease Lake O’ the Pines water are ongoing so they don’t have specifics to provide regarding any potential agreements. However, they did release several “facts” in attempt to clarify their position.

“We understand that our friends and neighbors are concerned and want answers. Sadly, too many of the answers you’ve been given simply aren’t true.” Wayne Owen, general manager and executive director of NETMWD, said. “It is normal to enter a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) between entities during the research and discovery phase of a deal such as this. We are sharing the information we have available at this time to set the record straight while we investigate the options of a sale or lease of excess water.”

These are NETMWD’s new facts:

• NETMWD is not negotiating with the City of Dallas to sell water.
  • The City of Dallas won’t receive any water from North Texas MWD, which only provides water to areas north and east of Dallas.
• NETMWD has been selling water from Lake O’ the Pines for the past 60 years.
  • Several industrial water contracts are ending which will free up water that North Texas MWD wants to buy or lease along with unused water from NETMWD’s cities.
  • NETMWD said Lake O’ The Pines will produce enough water to meet current and future needs in East Texas.
  • In a single day, the lake produced 1.1 billion gallons of water. which reportedly is enough to feed all of NETMWD’s cities for a whole year.
• NETMWD said Lake O’ the Pines will still send billions of gallons of water into Caddo Lake regardless of whether or not they sell to North Texas MWD.
  • Lake O’ the Pines provides less than a quarter of the water feeding Caddo Lake on average.
  • Every year, Lake O’ the Pines provides 445,000 acre-feet of water to Caddo Lake via Big Cypress Bayou.

“We will earnestly share information as it becomes available via public notices and public meetings while we work alongside elected officials to be as transparent as possible throughout the process,” Owens said. “Our goal is to do the best by our NETMWD member and customer cities, Lake O’ the Pines and Caddo Lake.”

NETMWD’s press release comes on the heels of the Marion County Commissioners Court unanimous approval of a resolution opposing NETMWD’s potential sale of water rights from Lake O’ The Pines.

The resolution encourages the City Council of Jefferson to take a firm stance against any sale proposed by NETMWD that would hurt local interests. Jefferson, Pittsburgh, Daingerfield, Avinger, Lone Star, Ore City and Hughes Springs helped fund the lake’s creation and those seven cities would all have to vote to approve the sale.