City seeing added site for municiple water well

The city of Diboll last week received approval from a regional advisory board to pursue another fresh water source for the city.

The East Texas Regional Water Planning Group (Region I) gave approval for Diboll to seek "an amendment to its water planning strategy."

City Manager Kenneth Williams said the city is negotiating for a tract three to five miles northwest of the city that would allow it to tap an underground aquifer. The approval by the water planning group allows Diboll to make its case to the Texas Water Development Board, which has to approve the project and would be asked to finance the project if it comes to fruition.

The tract is under private ownership and Williams declined to identify the owner. The property would be used to tap an underground supply called the Yegua-Jackson groundwater aquifer at Eason Lake, Williams said. Eason Lake is completely underground, he said.

Kelley Holcomb, chairman of the water planning group, said Diboll still faces a hurdle because its plan calls for drawing more water out of the ground than TWDB references say is there.

He said Diboll has new studies that show there is adequate water available and now the city must convince the TWDB. Holcomb, whose day job is planning and operations division manager for the Angelina- Neches River Authority, said the situation is "a little complicated."

According to Williams, Diboll needs an additional water source now, but securing the new well field would handle the city's water needs past the year

2030. Current estimates are that the project, including the well field and pipeline to bring it into the city, would cost around $6 million.

The city's existing water source is groundwater, making it more feasible to seek another underground source. "Groundwater and surface water really don't mix very well," Williams said. Surface water needs much more treatment to make potable than does groundwater, he said, and switching to a surface water source would require building a new treatment plant.

The water planning group is one of 16 regional authorities established by the state Legislature in 1997, Holcomb said. Overseen and coordinated by the TWDB, the authorities are responsible for anticipating water needs in the 16 regions and establishing plans to meet those needs in a sustainable manner.