Business View - February 2016 109
INFRASTRUCTURE
in the IPR project. We’re going to use that pipe in our
indirect project, saving us about six million dollars.”
And what if the city experiences another drought
sometime in the future? Barham says that it will sim-
ply re-direct the water which it now pumps into Lake
Texoma into its primary source, which is Lake Arrow-
head, through a new pipeline which it is currently con-
structing, again, using some of the pipe that it used for
the DPR project. “If it were up to me, I’d say ‘let’s bury
that pipeline; let’s keep it here for emergencies. If we
get into another drought situation in the future, we’ve
got a means to fight it,’ But the engineers and water
consultants tell us that during the seasons of low wa-
ter use, like during the winter, we will actually see a
rise in our lake level out at Lake Arrowhead of about
ten to twelve million gallons a day. So, we will not build
a permanent Direct Potable Reuse project because we
think that our water supply, with the indirect project,
will be sufficient to see us through another drought.”
In addition, Barham says that another lake, Lake Ring-
gold, may be built about 20 miles east of town. “The
permitting process will probably take us about eight
to ten years to get through. So we’re starting that pro-
cess to build that fourth water source lake. We have
the rights to build that lake there and all the water
that would be impounded in the
lake. So, we’re going to proceed
with the permitting and ten years
from now, when the permits are
approved, if we think there’s a
need, then we’re going to pro-
ceed with building it.”
Now that the city has solved its
water problems, both for the
present and for the foreseeable
future, Barham gives much cred-
it to the citizens of Wichita Falls
for their characteristic hard work,
sacrifice, determination, and
community spirit. “Our people in this community are
second to none,” he declares. “If there’s a tragedy in
this town, people come out of the woodwork to help.
