Irrigation
4/22/2025
Walnut Creek SUD would like to remind customers that the District never drops all watering restrictions. The District stays in Stage one of the Drought Contingency plan for conservation purposes. This is recommended by Tarrant Regional Water District, the controlling entity of Bridgeport Lake, who sells water to Walnut Creek SUD and sets the allotted amount to be sold. This plan allows for enough water to keep the landscape thriving without going to a more strict level for as long as possible. It also helps to alleviate strain on system components during constant watering, this strain is also being alleviated by upgrades put forward in the $40 million dollar bond package set in motion in late 2023 and construction of the 21 projects started in early 2024. This conservation also helps to keep the water being bought by the District closer to the allotted amount set forward by TRWD. The District cannot just take all they want from Bridgeport Lake. While engineering is required for new Subdivisions the engineering only includes essential water not irrigation. Irrigation can not and will not be engineered for and is not considered essential by the State of Texas. The District understands that this is not a popular opinion however it is Texas Water Code Regulation and therefore Texas Law. Also as long as the engineering shows that our system can provide for a subdivision with upgrades paid for by the subdivision, the District must then provide water to said subdivision, by law, as long as engineering says that the District can provide essential water with its current allotment. More subdivisions and RV parks are turned away yearly due to not enough water supply or choose not to move forward due to cost than are built. The possibility of a Water Treatment Plant on Eagle Mountain Lake has been discussed withTRWD; however TRWD will make no promises of going up on our allotted amount of water they will sell the District. A new Treatment Plant on Eagle Mountain would cost in the area of $25 million for the plant, pump stations and infrastructure to attach to Walnut Creek's existing system, this not including the price of procuring land and getting easements. This would not be economical nor truly help provide more water for Walnut Creek SUD customers.It would essentially be splitting the current allotted water between two Treatment Plants at a very high cost, when the current plant already has the capability to treat millions of gallons past our allotted millions of gallons daily. Therefore without TRWD agreeing to sell more water to Walnut Creek it would be a waste of money that could be better used elsewhere. Walnut Creek SUD is currently working with several other entities( Boyd,New Fairview Rhome,Newark,Paradise,Decatur,Alvord,Bridgeport,Aurora,West Wise SUD) to form the Wise Regional Water District(WRWD) as over ⅔ of Walnut Creek SUD service area is in Wise County and it provides water to several of the aforementioned entities. Walnut Creek will not only be a member of WRWD but be a board member, having a voice in bringing a larger water supply to rural Wise and Parker counties.WRWD being a Regional Water District will have more power to procure water than any single entity working alone and will be able to possibly get water from more than just one source. Being members of the WRWD will not only help Walnut Creek SUD in receiving more water but as the other entities in the WRWD that are sold water by Walnut Creek SUD start to receive water from WRWD that will be less water they will have to buy from Walnut Creek keeping more of the District’s water within the District for its customers. However good things do not simply happen over night. It takes time. In the mean time Walnut Creek SUD is no where near out of essential water and asks that customers simply pay attention to the amounts of water being used, stay within the watering schedules that will be put on the website walnutcreeksud.org, and together we can keep water restrictions to a minimum this coming summer. Walnut Creek would also like to encourage customers to come to monthly Board of Directors meetings or simply look at the website for meeting agendas and minutes to know what is being pushed forward for the betterment of Walnut Creek SUD and its customers. Because providing quality essential water is our commitment to you the customer.