New reservoir will supply fast-growing North Texas region

A North Texas water utility is building one of the state’s largest water projects in a generation, at a site unique for its eroded riverbed and paleontological history.

Lake Ralph Hall is an initiative by the Upper Trinity Regional Water District (UTRWD) to bolster the water supply for 29 communities and approximately 400,000 people north of Dallas. 

The project also will help restore a section of the eroded North Sulphur River, give the small town of Ladonia an economic boost, provide a new spot for fossil hunters to search for prehistoric marine life, and ensure the region — expected to grow fivefold in the next 50 years — will continue to have enough water for its customers.

“To prevent a water shortage, we need a new water supply, and we need it soon,” said Larry Patterson, UTRWD executive director. Without Lake Ralph Hall, “we would have severe shortages of water, be in restrictions and stymie the economic growth of the region.”

Growing population driving need for more water

In 2000, state population projections pointed to a water shortfall for the water district by the mid-2020s. Utility officials began looking for another source to supply wholesale water to the communities it serves. At the same time, town leaders in the small community of Ladonia, about 90 miles to the northeast of the Lewisville, Texas-based water district, had spent a decade meeting regularly to brainstorm ideas to revitalize its struggling community. 

After a suggestion by U.S. Congressman Ralph Hall of Texas, now the lake’s namesake, town leaders decided to partner with an agency that would build a lake on the nearby North Sulphur River to provide water to the growing north Texas region, while enticing recreationists to visit Ladonia. 

“We were introduced to this small town, evaluated the possibilities and realized there was a real suitability for what we needed,” Patterson said. 

In the late 1920s, farmers had dug a ditch off the North Sulphur River to deliver water to their cotton crops. The altered river soon began to erode; what started as a channel 16 feet wide by 10 feet deep is now 300 feet wide and 60 feet deep – 20 times its original size. 

UTRWD will engulf roughly 11 miles of the original 40-mile eroded channel. As part of the project, UTRWD plans to restore approximately three miles of the original North Sulphur River to its natural, meandering path (pre-channelization).  

“It’s a pretty unique site,” Patterson said. “It continues to erode, outward and down. That’s destroyed the environmental features of the site.”

Construction underway

After two decades of planning and permitting, the approximately $600 million project – easily the largest capital project undertaken by UTRWD – started construction in 2021 and is expected to begin operations in 2026. Crews are building a dam and spillway, lake intake structure, 32 miles of pipe, a pre-treatment balancing reservoir, a highway and pedestrian bridge across the lake, and maintenance buildings on site. 

Roughly 80% of project costs are being funded by the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT), a program that provides low-interest loans, extended repayment terms, loan repayment deferrals, and incremental repurchase terms to help communities build affordable water supplies. 

“This allows us to grow customers and create a stable rate base to help pay for that cost,” Patterson said. “It surely helps soften the immediate financial burden.”

Site an optimal location

The site of the new reservoir is ideal, said program manager Ed Motley, because of its minimal impacts. The area was highly degraded from channelization, had few wetlands to be mitigated, and had no houses that needed to be relocated (though one cemetery was moved). 

Crews had to relocate Ladonia Fossil Park, an area popular with fossil hunters, to a temporary location upstream. Now the water district is working with residents to select a site for the permanent fossil park, downstream of the dam, where crews will build shade pavilions, restrooms, an access ramp and a parking lot. Crews also are watching closely for any fossils that may turn up during construction to share with paleontologists and local museums. 

Because the area is owned and operated by the water district, not the federal government, people can collect and keep the prehistoric marine artifacts, Motley said, “and I’ve been told it’s the Disney World of fossil parks.” 

The water utility’s executive director praised the team that has been successful in progressing Lake Ralph Hall to construction, noting most of them have worked together since planning began in 2003.

“Start your planning as early as you can, keep your team together and document everything you can,” Patterson said. “State and federal agencies are always having multiple changes in personnel and rules, so it’s important to document everything.” 

Motley agreed, urging patience. 

“You have to be persistent because there will be a lot of roadblocks,” Motley said. “You have to be flexible, build a relationship with regulators, listen to stakeholders and come up with innovative solutions that will meet the needs of your stakeholders.”

Once finished, the water district will have a reliable supply of water for its customers, while people can visit the lake to bike across the pedestrian bridge, paddleboard, fish, bird-watch or hunt for fossils. It’s a project officials say will benefit north Texas for decades to come.

“We’ll be long gone, and this lake will still be beneficial to so many people,” Patterson said.