The North East Texas Regional Water Planning Group (Region D) moved ahead Wednesday with the development of a Round 3 water plan for the Group’s 19 counties.

Meeting in Mount Pleasant, the Group approved Chapters 1 and 2 and discussed the contents of Chapters 3 and 8, as well as ecologically unique stream segments

Administrator Walt Sears told the Group that it must complete its regional water plan by March 1, 2010, including chapters 1 through 10.

Sears said chapters 1 and 2 are currently accurate as Region D members

proposed.

In reviewing Chapter 3, consulting engineer Reeves Hayter said the segment’s purpose is to evaluate current water supplies and determine shortages in the region.

He said the chapter projects an increase of 6,000 acre feet of surface water and 43,000 acre feet of groundwater, but he said the latter figure could be inaccurate and may require some adjustments. He indicated that groundwater projections for a portion of Smith County would be examined more closely.

He said studies have projected 1,844,912 acre feet of water over the next 50 years. The plan, he said, assumes there will be no additional major reservoirs developed in the next 50 years.

The Group discussed possible ecologically unique stream segments, including Pecan Bayou, which originates two miles south of Woodland in Red River County near the Red River and flows 40 miles to rejoin the river one mile west of the Bowie County line.

Jim Eidson of Hunt County said the unique stream segment includes bottomland forests covering about 613,462 acres and is one of the largest undamed forest watersheds in North East Texas and supports large forests with rare and endangered species.

Another endangered forest segment discussed is White Oak Creek, which

originates a mile east of Pleasant Grove in central Hopkins County and winds 66 miles through North Franklin County north of Mount Pleasant and north and west of Interstate 30.

Ray Flemons, chief engineering consultant for the regional group, discussed the group’s plan for revising recommendations found in the 2006 water plan. He said recommendations must be compiled in 2010 for unique reservoir sites and legislative recommendations for the Texas Water Development Board’s statewide plan.

Unique stream segments may be set aside for biological functions, hydrological purposes, and endangered stream protection, he said.

Richard LeTourneau, Region D’s chairman and a member of a Study Commission exploring water options for Region D and Region C (Dallas-Fort

Worth), said the Commission will meet Friday at Richardson.

The group set January 6, 2010, for its next meeting, starting at 1 p.m. in Mount Pleasant’s Civic Center. Posssible water management strategies for entities expected to exprience an inadequate supply over the next 50 years will likely be discussed at that meeting.

Region D serves all or parts of Bowie, Camp, Cass, Delta, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Hunt, Lamar, Marion, Red River, Rains, Smith, Titus, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties.