Fort Worth purchases raw water (water received directly from a river or lake) from Tarrant Regional Water District. As a water wholesaler, TRWD does not treat water, but pumps it to their wholesale customers for treatment.
TRWD is one of the largest water suppliers in Texas, with more than 25 wholesale water customers across 10 counties. Other Metroplex customers include Arlington, Mansfield and the Trinity River Authority of Texas.
Current water sources
Fort Worth uses surface water from six sources. The West Fork system includes Lake Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth. The East Texas reservoirs are Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers. Benbrook Lake is another water source.
The City of Fort Worth owns Lake Worth, and Benbrook Lake is the responsibility of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The other four lakes are owned and operated by Tarrant Regional Water District.
Water Supply Planning
In 1997, under the leadership of then Lt. Governor Bob Bullock, the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill One. Senate Bill One called for a system of regional and statewide water supply planning managed by the Texas Water Development Board. Texas’ 254 counties were divided into 16 regional water planning groups. Each regional group was tasked with developing a regional water plan. Each regional water plan is incorporated into a comprehensive state water plan by the Texas Water Development Board. The regional and statewide plans are updated every five years.
The City of Fort Worth and Tarrant Regional Water District are active participants in the Region C Regional Water Planning Group. Region C includes all or part of 16 counties, mostly in the Fort Worth-Dallas Metroplex. The counties are Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Freestone, Fannin, Grayson, Henderson (partial), Jack, Kaufman, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise.
Planning is performed on a fifty-year planning horizon. There are 16 regional water planning groups across Texas. The regional plans are rolled up into the State Water Plan. The latest version was adopted in 2017, and the next one is due in 2022.