Panhandle Water District Sees
Water Sales Pumping Requests

WHITE DEER, Texas — The Panhandle Ground Water Conservation District No. 3 here is reviewing pumping permit requests from T. Boone Pickens and other area ranchers and landowners.

C.E. Williams, general manager of the ground water district, says he received seven different requests this month from landowners in Roberts County. Each request asks for permission to pump one acre-foot of water per acre owned. The ground water district regulates and monitors pumping in a six-county area, including Roberts County. Under existing rules, one acre-foot per acre owned is a reasonable amount.

Williams says it is not clear whether all the permit requests were connected with Pickens' Mesa Water Inc.

"I have not been through these," says Williams, who also serves as chairman of the Panhandle Regional Water Planning Group.

Each pumping request is for a separate property. Pickens' request covers 24,000 acres. Courson Companies Inc. of Perryton filed a request for a permit to pump on about 54,000 acres. Susie Reynolds of Pampa filed a request for a permit to pump about 3000 acres. Albert Reynolds of Pampa requested a permit for 6800 acres. Katie Wilde requested pumping on about 3300 acres. Carl Kennedy from Pampa requested a permit for pumping on about 3000 acres, and Bill Tolbert of Miami filed a request on about 5800 acres.

"All of them combined cover just under 100,000 acres," Williams says.

He says the permits would be reviewed according to the district's established procedures.

"There will probably be some ground water modeling," he adds.

A public hearing will most likely be scheduled for November, Williams said.

"We will have to evaluate this process similar to what we did with the city of Amarillo and the Canadian Water Authority," he continues.

Pickens has indicated his desire to pump water from the Ogallala Aquifer beneath his Roberts County ranch and other nearby ranches and sell it to thirsty Texas cities.

Pickens has told the Associated Press he plans to sell the water through his Mesa Water Company to cities throughout the state, possibly including San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth and El Paso.

So far, Pickens doesn't have a buyer, but he has amassed about 150,000 acre-feet of water rights. He says he needs about 50,000 more to make his proposed deal fly.

"We have the water rights here, and we want to get started producing," Pickens says. "We've got to get on production, or we are going to have our water drained."

The City of Amarillo and the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority were granted similar permits five years ago and plan to start retrieving water from about eight miles south of Pickens' Roberts County ranch in May. The water will go to 11 West Texas cities, including Amarillo and Lubbock.

The rule of capture in Texas allows a property owner to retrieve as much water as desired from under his land, as long as the water is being put to good use.

"My back's against the wall. I've got to hurry," Pickens says. "I'm not trying to do anything but protect myself and my neighbors from drainage."

John Williams, general manager of the Canadian River water authority, says it will take a long time for Pickens' water rights to be affected by his water authority's sale of water to West Texas cities such as Lubbock and Amarillo.

"I don't see why it would affect his water, but then I'm not in his shoes," John Williams says. "It will be a long, long, long time before any of our pumping affects his property. Our permit is for 40,000 acre feet per year under normal conditions, which is very small as compared to what Mr. Pickens is proposing."

So far, Pickens and the six landowners have requested permits for a combined 99,917 acre-feet of water. Pickens says other landowners who have joined with his Mesa Water Company will also be applying for permits in the coming weeks.

While Mesa Water has yet to find a buyer for the water, Pickens says he is confident that he will before long. He says he plans to have his water running to Texas cities in about three to five years.

"I think we are closer as far as a sale is concerned," Pickens says, refusing to provide any more details.

Questions still remain concerning state law and interbasin transfers as well as the cost and environmental concerns involving a pipeline.

C.E. Williams says he hopes some of the questions involved will be addressed during the next session of the Texas Legislature.