Texas water group has wanted Marvin Nichols Reservoir for decades; Opposition holds firm

Generations of northeast Texas residents who say their lives would be negatively impacted by the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir spoke loud and clear at a regional water board meeting Monday afternoon in Arlington.
Their message? Don’t build it.
Some East Texas residents — who traveled for three or more hours to attend the meeting — have echoed the same sentiment for decades. And as the deadline to submit an updated water plan that could include the human-made reservoir looms, they are making sure their opposition is heard.
“I’ve often said, Marvin Nichols Reservoir may be like a gnat on an elephant’s rear to Region C but it is the elephant in the room in our region,” Jim Thompson, Region D Water Planning Group chair, said.
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Dozens of people gathered inside the North Central Texas Council Governments building to discuss the 66,000-acre Marvin Nichols Reservoir ahead of the Region C Water Planning Group meeting. No formal action was taken on the plan during the meeting, but the Texas Water Development Board is set to deliver a final feasibility report to the state Legislature early next year.
The reservoir is planned to store up to approximately 1.5 million acre-feet of water and yield about 451,500 acre-feet of water per year. An acre-foot is equivalent to about 326,000 gallons.
In addition to shoveling out and filling the reservoir, pipelines and pump stations to transport the water throughout to designated areas in northern Texas will also need to be constructed.
If approved, the goal is to have Marvin Nichols completed by 2050. The price tag is estimated to be more than $4.4 billion (in 2018 dollars), according to a newly released study.
Some view Marvin Nichols as a critical solution to North Texas’ booming population needs while others, especially those living in the areas that would be bulldozed and flooded, say the approach is antiquated and will have a far-reaching impact on the residents and ecosystem.
The planned site in Region D along the Sulphur River in Red River, Bowie, Titus and Franklin counties would pump water 150 miles away to the Dallas-Fort Worth region. Region D includes the 19 counties in the state’s northeast area.
The Region C Water Planning Group — which covers 16 North Texas counties including Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis and Tarrant — is tasked with evaluating population projections, water demand projections and existing water supply during each five-year planning cycle. The last time the regional group, supported by the Texas Water Development Board, published a plan was 2021.
Marvin Nichols was first included in the state’s water plan in 1968 but the project seemed to hit a standstill for decades, sometimes regaining traction like in the early 2000s before returning to the back burner.
In recent years, those opposed to the reservoir have become more organized and public-facing in their advocacy, including attending meetings across the state and at the Capitol, and founding Preserve Northeast Texas.
Region C group’s lead consultant, Simone Kiel with Freese & Nichols, gave a roughly 30-minute presentation on the firm’s findings with maps and data on the project’s impacts. Attendees remained mostly quiet and focused, staring at the PowerPoint.
Then, Kiel said there is less than 600 acres of prime farmland inside the reservoir site.
“Oh man,” one man said, turning to the others in his row who broke out in laughter. “Woo.”
“That’s bulls—,” another whispered.
“I own 700 hundred of ’em,” a third quipped.
Kiel responded saying the statistic is from what information was available in the latest documentation.
Another moment that prompted some reaction was Kiel saying mitigation amounts and locations wouldn’t be decided until the permitting process.
Following Kiel, Thompson spoke for nearly 20 minutes on behalf of himself and as a member of the Region D water group and, separately, the timber industry which would be majorly impacted.
“I don’t know if we’re not being heard, we’re not being understood or nobody cares,” Thompson said. “But we’re still here. We’re still making those complaints.”
Thompson said Region D is not trying to hoard resources and is willing to do interregional work to come up with a solution, such as using reservoirs in the area that are underutilized.
Twelve others — including farmers, ranchers, preservationists and one man who stands to lose the house he built by hand — spoke for an allotted two minutes during public comment. A letter penned by State Rep. Gary VanDeaver was also read aloud.
VanDeaver wrote that the project would turn into one of the “largest land grabs by eminent domain” in state history.
“All Texans should be appalled — and alarmed — by it,” he wrote.
Some people called the data from the consultant “laughable” and said it downplays how the East Texas communities would be impacted. A majority of the public commenters called for an increase in water conservation, investing the money into fixing infrastructure that causes wasted water and looking to already-existing bodies of water — human-made and natural — that could also provide resources across the state.
Evan Purviance, a fifth-generation landowner, questioned who the project really benefited. He said he would lose thousands of acres of land that include row crops.
“While mine are being emptied, whose pockets are being lined?” he asked.
Stanley Jessee, former superintendent of Rivercrest Independent School District, brought his own paper map supported by a piece of cardboard.
He said the reservoir’s “giant footprint steps right in the middle of the school district” and would cause a major loss in the community’s tax base when families and current or future students are forced to move.
Others begged the Region C group to reckon with the morality of such a vast taking of private land.
“You don’t have to vote to put Marvin Nichols Reservoir in the water plan,” Janice Bezanson with the Texas Conservation Alliance said. Bezanson has worked on water issues for more than 35 years and has repeatedly told the group to look for other ways to quench Dallas-Fort Worth’s thirst for water.
A draft of a feasibility review on the reservoir, which lawmakers called on to be completed, was published online earlier this month. Its summary says although there are uncertainties associated with any large infrastructure project, the Texas Water Development Board did not find anything — timely, financially or ecologically — “infeasible” about the Marvin Nichols.
It also compares Marvin Nichols to two other major reservoirs currently under development in Texas: the Bois d’Arc Lake and Lake Ralph Hall.
“Their Texas miracle should not be my Texas nightmare,” Cass County Judge Travis Ransom, who has been a vocal critic of Marvin Nichols and pointed out the stark contrasts between how regions C and D use water listing the nearby water park as an example, said after the meeting.
Comments on the draft feasibility study can be emailed to [email protected]. The deadline for input to be considered by the executive administrator is 11:59 p.m. Oct. 25.
CORRECTION, 3:09 p.m., Oct. 1, 2024: An earlier version of this story misstated the findings of the Texas Water Development Board report. The study found Marvin Nichols Reservoir is a feasible project.