North Texas needs way more water. Here’s the state’s latest plan to get it
North Central Texas needs to almost double its water supply by 2080 to hydrate the millions expected to move to the region in the coming decades, state water planners warned in a 982-page report presented to the public Monday.
The Region C Water Planning Group, the body responsible for supervising aquatic resources in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth region, recommends the area’s major water providers spend billions of dollars constructing new reservoirs and conserving, reusing, and redirecting its existing supplies.
The group’s priciest proposal is also its most embattled: a $7.39 billion, 66,103-acre reservoir 180 miles east of Fort Worth preemptively christened Marvin Nichols.
North Central Texas water planners argue the man-made lake is a vital and sensible future water source. Region C’s number crunchers estimate it could provide the area’s 16 counties 320,160 acre-feet of water annually — roughly 158,319 Olympic-size swimming pools. That output could cover almost a quarter of the region’s anticipated 1.3 million acre-feet annual water shortage.
“Conservation and reuse are [an] essential component of the Region C water plan, and [are] part of the solution, but will not be able to meet the needs of the region alone,” said Simone Kiel, a consultant hired by the planning group to develop its water strategy. “The water supply shortage can be solved, but Region C will need to use water from other parts of the state. There’s not enough in-region water to meet the water needs of our growing region.”
Marvin Nichols a long time coming
North Texas officials first conceived of Marvin Nichols in the late 1960s. Debates surrounding its future intensified in the 2000s, as DFW’s ballooning population laid bare the long-term inadequacies of its water reserves.
Constructing the lake would require damming the Sulfur River and submerging tens of thousands of acres of forest, pasture, and wetland sprawled across portions of Red River, Titus, and Franklin counties.
The reservoir’s critics, a coalition of local landowners, loggers and environmentalists, cast Marvin Nichols as pointless and damaging, a boondoggle putting their livelihoods and businesses at risk to satiate the wasteful consumption of Dallas-Fort Worth businesses and homeowners.
Around two dozen opponents appeared at the Region C meeting Monday afternoon, sustaining the years-long campaign to strike Marvin Nichols from the state’s water plans. Some had made the roughly three hour drive west from the ranches and woodlands set to be drowned; others were local, sympathetic to their cause and skeptical of the planning group’s strategy. Many wore bright green stickers pasted on their chests reading, “Enough is Enough. No Marvin Nichols Reservoir.”
“People in nations throughout history have worshiped at the God of growth, and when they outgrow their own resources, they go and take resources from other areas,” said Howdy Lisenbee, a member of the Region D planning group, which manages water in the northeast Texas counties that may house Marvin Nichols. “That is your plan.”
Lisenbee and his allies argue DFW cities and the vast suburbs surrounding them should simply get better at using the water they have — plugging leaks, easing off lawn care and strictly penalizing serial wasters.
Region C leaders counter that water conservation and reuse is already an integral part of the area’s water use strategy — and it still wouldn’t save nearly enough to quench the thirst of the 15.1 million people expected to live within its boundaries by 2080.
They also suspect the reservoir’s adverse impacts would be manageable, if not minimal. A “feasibility review” of Marvin Nichols published in September concluded that the lake would cover only 0.031% of the region’s prime farmland and 7.7% of the timber resources in Red River, Titus and Franklin counties. Critics claim the review understated the potential economic damage.
Public can offer their opinions
Region C will field public feedback on its water plan draft until July 18, 2025. Those hoping to chime in can:
- Post comments online at regioncwater.org/public-comment
- Email comments to info@regioncwater.org
- Mail comments to J. Kevin Ward, RCWPG Administrator c/o Trinity River Authority, P.O. Box 60, Arlington, Texas 76004
Region C and its peer groups must submit a finalized water plan to the Texas Water Development Board by Oct. 20, 2025. The board synthesizes the proposals and sends a statewide water plan to the Texas Legislature next year.
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 5:29 PM.
