For the past few years, Freese and Nichols consulting firm has been preparing an application for the future Lake Ringgold project — for the City of Wichita Falls to submit to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
And Tuesday, the city council could authorize city manager, Darron Leiker, to move forward and file the application.
“It’s required as part of the application that says the city council of Wichita Falls wishes to move forward. They do want to push things forward with securing the water right and Darron Leiker will act on their behalf,” Russell Schreiber, public works director, said.
Preparation for the application — that began in 2015 — included environmental studies and mitigation plans.
And this lake is one of the water supply strategies to meet the citizens’ future needs.
“Well, it’s important for people to understand that it’s our job to ensure that we have enough water to meet not only the demands today, but the projected demands,” Schreiber said.
Based on growth patterns and different projections, the city will need more water by 2020 — and their solution for that short-term need is the indirect potable reuse project.
Construction on Lake Ringgold would not be complete for another 30 to 40 years for long-term needs.
“I think the drought shows that we need a better water source than we have right now, so I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s well worth the money and I like that our city leaders are thinking that far in advance,” Wichita Falls Resident, Kent Noble, said.
“Well, I think it’s always a good idea to plan ahead make sure that you have water because it’s the most important resource,” resident, William Hull, said.
Lake Kickapoo is around 86 thousand acre feet and Lake Arrowhead is 230 thousand acre feet, while Lake Ringgold would be 275 thousand acre feet.
Overall, the possible lake would increase water resources by one third.
So far, the city owns about a third of the footprint of the lake — around 65-hundred acres. The entire lake would be about 17- thousand acres.
