Wednesday, October 18, 2000
San Angelo urged to find water
By Matt Phinney
San Angelo Standard Times
SAN ANGELO — A task force is recommending
that San Angelo pursue the purchase of more water from O.H. Ivie
Reservoir as a way of meeting consumption demands that are projected
to increase 80 percent in the next 20 years.
San Angelo must find an additional 18,000
acre-feet of water per year by 2020 to meet its rising demand,
according to a report from the San Angelo Water Task Force. The
group estimated demand will jump from 22,000 acre-feet per year
to 40,000 acre-feet over the coming two decades.
An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons.
The committee developed six strategies for
meeting the city’s water needs, including negotiating for
increased water rights from O.H. Ivie Reservoir and Lake Spence.
The task force presented its final report
Tuesday to the San Angelo City Council.
The report states San Angelo must also continue
to develop water conservation practices, such as watering times,
types of sprinkler systems, landscaping modes and plumbing costs
to minimize water use. Abilene has restricted the sprinkling of
lawns since August 1999.
The task force recommended the city continue
its “wise practice of wastewater effluent reuse for agriculture
irrigation.” Abilene earlier this year began using treated
wastewater to irrigate local golf courses and hopes to expand
the program to other landscapes, such as the city’s universities.
The task force also recommended support
of brush control projects in area watersheds, increased emphasis
for regional cloud-seeding programs, and feasibility studies regarding
desalinization of underground water sources that are too salty
for consumption.
In one of the more significant suggestions,
the task force recommends San Angelo begin discussions with the
Colorado River Municipal Water District, which administers Ivie,
to acquire additional water from Ivie and Spence.
San Angelo has the rights to 3,000 acre-feet
of water per year from Spence and 15,000 acre-feet per year from
Ivie. The city has a right to buy additional water from the two
sources when extra water is available.
Abilene City Hall is planning to begin work
on a pipeline to the reservoir in February, even though the final
go-ahead has not been given to the project. It could cost between
$60 million and $78 million, according to the latest city estimates.
Abilene’s pipeline is designed to carry
up to 24 million gallons a day from Ivie, even though the city
owns the rights to an average of 13 million gallons a day from
the reservoir.
The San Angelo report also calls for construction
of a pipeline that would allow 19 million gallons per day to be
drawn from Spence and another 20 million gallons a day from Ivie.
In the report, the task force recommends the line be constructed
by summer 2001.
The group, established in March and headed
by state Rep. Rob Junell, examined water supply facilities and
San Angelo’s overall water delivery capability. The task
force reviewed projected year-by-year water demands for the city
through 2050.
The task force recommended finding additional
water sources by 2028 to meet San Angelo’s increasing demand.
The city should immediately initiate the design of a McCulloch
County well field and a distribution center, according to the
report.
San Angelo also should consider permanently
buying irrigation water rights from private landowners on the
South Concho River, Spring Creek and Dove Creek, according to
the report. All three sources flow into Twin Buttes.
Reporter-News staff writer Samuel Segrist
contributed to this report.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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