For more than 60 years, the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) has provided water, wastewater and waste management services to North Texas, the population of which is now over 2 million. The district is leading the charge on major infrastructure projects to help bolster the region’s water supply. For its efforts, ENR Texas & Louisiana has named NTMWD its 2022 Owner of the Year.

Later this year, NTMWD’s $1.6 billion Bois d’Arc Lake project will reach completion. Construction began in 2018 on the this, the first new major reservoir in Texas in nearly 30 years. The 16,641-acre lake is located northeast of the city of Bonham in Fannin County and began to impound water on April 14, 2021. Some of the last few construction elements remaining include work on the two-mile long dam, water treatment facilities, 60 miles of water pipelines and over 17,000 acres of environmental and habitat improvements.

Major projects on the horizon include the Sister Grove Regional Water Resource Recovery Facility, for which excavation is already underway. This $459 million project consists of a new wastewater treatment plant with an initial average annual daily treatment capacity of 16 million gallons per day. Design is moving forward on the McKinney-Prosper Transfer Sewer Pipeline, a gravity interceptor that will extend approximately 6.4 miles along the Wilson Creek corridor from south of Highway 380 and Ridge Road to the Wilson Creek Lift Station

NTMWD has also made a concerted effort to reach out to the public on the importance of protecting and improving water quality across the state. In February, Texas A&M AgriLife, North Texas Municipal Water District and other stakeholders in the Bois d’Arc Lake Watershed Partnership hosted a Lone Star Healthy Streams Workshop in Bonham, Texas, presenting information about basic watershed function, water quality, and specific best management practices that can be implemented to help minimize bacterial contamination originating from livestock and feral hogs.

The district also began a new program in February that brings science and sports together to teach kids about the importance of water conservation. Working with the Texas Legends, an NBA G League team based in Frisco, NTMWD hosted its first free STEM Basketball Clinic at the Wylie Recreation Center. About thirty kids participated in the water-themed basketball clinic where they learned about the One Water message while also picking up basketball skills and techniques.

For more on NTMWD, check out the April 4 issue of ENR Texas & Louisiana.