Sunday, July 16, 2000
Possum Kingdom looked to as
answer to area water shortage
By Larry Zelisko
Reporter-News Staff Writer
As cities look for more water sources, some
are eyeing Possum Kingdom.
Possum Kingdom Lake is the old heavyweight
champion among area lakes. It is the largest lake within 100 miles
of Abilene, slightly larger than upstart O.H. Ivie Reservoir.
Nearly eight Lake Fort Phantom Hills would fit inside Possum Kingdom.
It is considered one of the most scenic
lakes in the area. Possum Kingdom’s 310 miles of shoreline
range from sandy beaches to soaring cliffs. Homes, marinas, campgrounds
and parks surround the lake.
And hardly anyone drinks the water.
The reason is its salt content. But with
improving water treatment technology and an increasing demand
for water, Possum Kingdom might become a big player in West Texas’
water future.
“A number of entities in the area west
and north of Possum Kingdom are showing signs of a supply problem,”
said Mike Bukala, information and support division manager for
the Brazos River Authority, which controls the lake. “One
of the alternatives on the radar screen that water planners are
looking at is the movement of water from Possum Kingdom west to
areas of need.”
However, he cautioned, Possum Kingdom water
is “pretty well committed.”
But when a customer no longer needs as much
water as allowed under its contract, the Brazos River Authority
will renegotiate contracts to make water available to other potential
customers.
The largest share of Possum Kingdom water
is contracted to TXU — formerly Texas Utilities.
At one time, TXU owned a peninsula at the
lake where it considered building a power plant, Bukala said.
However, that land has been sold, raising
the possibility that the authority could reacquire TXU’s
water and sell it to another customer.
“We’re looking for all sorts of
ways to find additional sources of water,” Bukala said. “One
of our objectives is to stay ahead of the curve and meet water
demands through developing new supplies of water or new techniques
to enhance supplies.”
By pooling all of its sources of water,
the Brazos River Authority is better able to meet additional requests,
he said.
For example, the city of Marlin, southeast
of Waco, has a contract for Possum Kingdom water. If that could
be met through a source closer to Central Texas, Possum Kingdom
water would be freed for use elsewhere.
“We’re in the business of selling
water,” Bukala said, explaining that was one of the reasons
the river authority was formed in 1929.
Others with contracts for Possum Kingdom
water are the cities of Graham and Granbury, Possum Kingdom Water
Supply Corp., Sportsman’s World, the Acton Municipal Utility
District, Brazos Electric Cooperative and Kerr-McGee, an oil company.
Possum Kingdom pipeline
One of the groups exploring options at Possum
Kingdom is Midway Regional Water, a new organization made up of
representatives from Breckenridge, Throckmorton and several rural
water supply corporations.
“The purpose of the organization is
to identify and try to develop alternative sources of water for
our area,” said chairman Phil Taylor, general manager of
the Stephens County Rural Water Supply Corp. “We’re
following up on leads for water sources.”
One such lead is using an existing water
pipeline from Possum Kingdom that runs to just east of Breckenridge.
The pipeline carries Possum Kingdom water
to flood oil wells in Stephens and Eastland counties, forcing
more oil from the ground.
The project could carry water for cities
or water supply corporations, but several questions must first
be researched, Taylor said.
Number 1 is: Is the pipeline available?
Number 2: Is water available from Possum
Kingdom?
The Brazos River Authority’s contract
with the oil company is unique in that most contracts for water
call for increasing usage over time; this one calls for a reduction,
Bukala said. When the oil runs out, the company won’t need
the water.
“There is the possibility of a public
entity to acquire the pipeline as the backbone of a system to
distribute Possum Kingdom water to the west,” he said.
Potability problem
Possum Kingdom’s potability problem
— the water is unfit to drink — flows from the Salt
Fork of the Brazos River. There’s a reason for the name of
that branch of the Brazos.
As the Salt Fork flows through Stonewall
and Knox counties, it picks up chlorides — salt — and
carries them downstream to the first dam on the Brazos —
Possum Kingdom.
In the past, a number of projects, such
as diversion dams, have been studied as a way to keep the salty
water from reaching Possum Kingdom. Now, water officials are turning
to technological improvements in treating water to make Possum
Kingdom water drinkable.
Bukala said Possum Kingdom water can be
made potable by treating it through either reverse osmosis or
electrodialysis reversal.
Reverse osmosis uses high pressure to force
water through synthetic membranes with pores so small that chloride
ions can’t get through.
Electrodialysis reversal charges the chloride
ions so that they are removed through two membranes, leaving fresher
water behind.
A number of individual homes at the lake
or housing developments such as The Cliffs use reverse osmosis
to filter Possum Kingdom water.
The city of Granbury uses electrodialysis
reversal treatment at its municipal plant on Lake Granbury, downstream
from Possum Kingdom.
Another option is to blend Possum Kingdom
water with another water source.
If the salty water can be diluted enough
with a good source of water, it can be treated with conventional
methods, Bukala said.
“There’s no point in distilling
the water,” he said, explaining it has to reach only the
point at which it meets drinking water standards.
A small engineering problem moving Possum
Kingdom water westward is that it would have to be pumped uphill.
The top of the spillway of the Morris Sheppard
Dam at Possum Kingdom is an even 1,000 feet above sea level. The
spillway elevation of Hubbard Creek Reservoir is 1,183 feet, while
Lake Fort Phantom Hill is 1,636.
Possum Kingdom WSC
The Possum Kingdom Water Supply Corp. soon
will be the first large user of Possum Kingdom water for drinking
water. Already about 1,750 people have signed up for water meters,
said Bonnie Borden, the corporation’s office manager.
“It’s just a way of life”
around Possum Kingdom to buy drinking water in one- or five-gallon
jugs, Borden said. “You get used to it and it’s no big
deal.”
Construction is expected to start later
this year on a treatment plant and distribution lines, said Scott
Hibbs of Abilene, engineer for the project.
The first water could be delivered by the
end of next year.
The treatment plant and distribution lines
will cost an estimated $13.4 million.
The first three phases of the project, costing
$11.2 million, have been financed through the Texas Water Development
Board and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development
Fund.
By the time the final two phases are complete,
the water supply corporation will furnish water on all sides of
the lake.
The distribution system will be somewhat
of a challenge because of hilly, rocky terrain, Hibbs said.
To make Possum Kingdom water potable, the
water supply corporation will build a reverse osmosis treatment
plant, Hibbs said.
Such treatment plants are becoming more
economical, but construction costs are still about three times
as much as a conventional water treatment plant, he said.
Operational costs are only slightly higher,
he added.
Finally next year, after 60 years, Possum
Kingdom water will be used as a public source for drinking water.
Facts about Possum Kingdom Lake
Owners/operators:
Brazos River Authority.
Location:
90 miles northeast of Abilene in Palo Pinto, Stephens and Young
counties.
Built:
1938-41, with 13 workers killed in job-related accidents. In 1987,
the lake level was lowered 13 feet while repairs to the dam’s
foundation were made. One of the buttresses had shifted four inches
since 1941. The lake was filled again in 1989.
Cost: $8.7
million for construction, about $13 million total. The lake was
financed through bonds issued by the Brazos River Authority, funds
from the Works Projects Administration, and an assessment by the
state on coastal counties that would benefit from flood control.
Shoreline:
310 miles.
Size: 556,220
acre-feet.
Power units:
Two 11,250-kilowatt generators. Power has been sold to the Brazos
Electric Cooperative since 1941.
Height of dam:
190 feet at tallest point. At one time, a proposal was made to
raise the height of the dam, but it was scrapped because Graham
city officials raised concerns their town would flood.
Name: The
hills west of Mineral Wells were known as a fur-trader’s
paradise, full of raccoons, opossums and other furry critters
— hence the name Possum Kingdom. The dam is named after U.S.
Sen. Morris Sheppard, a supporter of the project during the Depression,
when the river authority ran into permit and funding problems.
Purpose:
Possum Kingdom originally was to be the first of 12 dams the Brazos
River Authority wanted to build within the Brazos River basin
for flood control, power generation, water supply and land conservation.
Revenues from the sale of electricity would be used to fund other
BRA projects.
Brazos River Authority history: Created by the Texas Legislature in 1929, it was
originally known as the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation
District. It was the first state agency in the United States created
specifically for the purpose of developing and managing the water
resources of an entire river basin.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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