Sunday, January 6,
2002
Drought
leads Sweetwater to seek new water sources
By Samuel Segrist
Reporter-News Staff Writer
 As late as 1996, the people of Sweetwater
could say they were debt-free. But as their water supply has shrunk,
the debt has grown.
For city leaders,
it was a decision between spending or drying up. They sold about
$25 million in bonds for three projects — a well field, a
wastewater treatment plant and a water filtration plant.
“We’re
handling the debt service payments, but I just point out that
the single issue of water has added $25 million in debt to our
city,” Mayor Jay Lawrence said.
Like many municipalities
across the nation, Sweetwater is struggling to ensure it has an
adequate water supply for the future. In addition to the new infrastructure,
the city is analyzing the possibility of more reservoirs and recycling
wastewater, and is encouraging conservation.
The town once depended
solely on three reservoirs, the largest being Oak Creek, until
1997, the last wet year in the area. At that time, the Sweetwater
City Commission voted to start developing a well field.
Rainfall since has
not been enough to restock any of the three lakes. Oak Creek is
at 15 percent of its capacity, its water level lying about 30
feet below the spillway, water treatment director Mickey Rogers
said. When the water gets that low, it gets muddy, making it difficult
to clean and use as a water source.
The wells pumping
in a field south of Roscoe began to come online about two years
ago. They provide almost all the city’s water, averaging
about 2.3 million gallons a day.
“Water has always
been an issue for Nolan County and Sweetwater,” Lawrence
said.
In the 1980s, voters
rejected a bid to tap into nearby Lake Spence. Besides not wanting
to spend the money, people were also worried about the quality
of the water, City Manager David Maddox said.
Since the vote and
the well field’s construction, city officials are examining
other future sources.
The city administration
is considering a water recycling project in which sewage water
would be cleaned enough for reuse by some local industries. Some
area leaders are searching for another water source, maybe a new
reservoir, for when the wells run dry. That could mean future
battles with property owners and environmentalists.
The people who live
in Sweetwater have changed their ways as well. Restrictions that
limit lawn watering to twice a week reduced the average daily
use from 3.3 million gallons to 2.3 million gallons in 2001.
“We’re
like any other West Texas community that is dealing with the drought,”
Maddox said. “Obviously, people are aware of the situation.”
People in Sweetwater
have long been aware of water. The town was named by people who
settled near an Indian and buffalo hunter camp on the banks of
a creek that gave clean water. Surrounding streams were bitter
with the taste of gypsum. Those days are long gone.
Sweet Water Creek
has been dry for as long as Lawrence, a native, can remember,
and the task of finding enough water keeps getting more complicated.
Contact
resources writer Samuel Segrist at 670-5239 or segrists@abinews.com
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