Water to Mineral Wells and beyond flows through multiple steps en route to area faucets

Mar. 1—MINERAL WELLS — The Texas Supreme Court declared in 1904 the movement of water in underground aquifers is "secret, occult and concealed."

The movement of water from Lake Palo Pinto to faucets in Mineral Wells is a pretty tricky dance, too.

"It's all a balancing act that they discuss every day," Palo Pinto Lake Manager Howard Huffman said, referring to Mineral Wells Water Department officials who oversee a dam on Palo Pinto Creek downstream from the lake dam. "It's a dance, and they do a very good job at it."

Public Works Director Scott McKennon's water guys are on the front line of drought that's kept the city's water source below it's 867-feet mean sea level full mark since May 2021.

On Leap Day Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported the lake level at 857.35 feet msl, nine and two-thirds of a foot below full.

The city follows its deliberate dance to keep the water flowing in Stage 2 drought that's ruled since April Fools Day 2023.

It does this under a related requirement of its permit with the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, which regulates the flow of water in streams including Palo Pinto Creek.

Here are the steps.

First, since Brazos River water rights have been sold out for a long time, Mineral Wells has leased river water from two cities that bought rights long ago — Abilene, and Manvel about 300 miles south in Brazoria County.

The Brazos River water the city leases is taken near the Palo Pinto Creek mouth at the river, which backflows into the creek, Huffman said.

"It's actually Brazos water because it backs up (into the creek)," he said, adding the creek is not allowed to flow over the city's dam on it.

One million gallons is 'blended' daily with lake water moving down the creek to a pump station, confusingly named the Brazos Pump Station though it's actually on the creek and is named for the unincorporated town of Brazos to its north.

The city, through the water district Huffman leads, has taken 177 million gallons of Brazos River water since Sept. 1, 2023.

That's water that doesn't come from the diminishing lake.

"It costs, between operations and water, it's about $300 a day," Huffman said of the leased water right. "And that, by far, is the most economic water we have outside of our impoundment at the lake."

Huffman's Palo Pinto County Municipal Water District No. 1 owns Lake Palo Pinto.

From the pump station, the water is pushed north to a pre-sedimentation pond to where its sediments settle to the pond floor for about 30 days.

Then, it's on to the Hilltop Water Treatment Plant just a few feet away, before making a final leg as treated water in a 36-inch pipeline to city taps.

Mineral Wells is poised to add a new step to its water dance. A reverse osmosis plant site in the Brazos community has never been used.

The RO plant will make more of the salty Brazos River water the city and district control available for treatment, again preserving the lake level.

With drought expected to descend in force again this summer, the goal is to ease bans on watering lawns and other restrictions.

"The RO, we need about three months to get it done and get it where it's ready to go," Huffman said. "It has never been operated. So, we are preparing to utilize the site by installing the reverse osmosis.

"We will blend or RO 365 days a year for as long as I'm sitting in this office. You never know when drought's coming."

Seven water wholesalers have individual take-points along that final leg, beginning with Santo Special Utility District's take-point next to the water plant, the rest staggered along the pipeline to the city.

Critics have questioned why the city still uses the creek to get water to the Brazos Pump Station, since evaporation claims precious gallons.

There are two main reasons for using the creek, the lesser being the creek bed naturally cleans the water and makes the 60-year-old treatment plant's job easier.

"We've never denied evaporation takes place in open air," Huffman said, describing the main reason the creek is used.

He acknowledged a consulting engineer recommended using a pipeline during the 2014 drought, a fact often cited by critics.

The water district took that idea to the Army Corps, which holds its permits, copying the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, both of the latter having a voice in stream flows.

"And, 'No. We're not going to allow you to put a pipeline in,'" Huffman quoted the response. "Pipelines do not create new water. The solutions for this region require new water. We are too far from (water rich) East Texas to draw off of them."

That need for new water is a big part of what's driving the creation of Turkey Peak Reservoir, a smaller but much deeper lake planned immediately south of Lake Palo Pinto.

"It's always come out that Turkey Peak is a cheaper option by the acre foot," he said, using the phrase for one acre of water one foot deep, about 325,900 gallons.