Lake Ralph Hall

Recently, over the objections of Flower Mound, the UTRWD board voted to proceed with building Lake Ralph Hall. The Town commissioned Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), an engineering firm, to do an analysis of the proposed Lake Ralph Hall and alternative water supplies. The engineering report confirmed the suspicions that Flower Mound has had about the project. (You may read the entire report at Town Hall or at the Flower Mound Library.)

According to the KBR study, the location of Lake Ralph Hall is a poor choice because of the excessive erosion in the North Sulphur River. The proposed lake is small, and the cost of construction (at about $300 million) would make Lake Ralph Hall the most expensive in the region. In addition, construction of the lake would cause environmental damage that could not be justified for the small amount of water the lake would yield.

Click on the graph to enlarge.

The KBR report also examines alternatives to building the lake. KBR analysts determined that DWU, with many existing lakes yet untapped (such as Lake Fork, Lake Palestine and Toledo Bend) could easily supply UTRWD with all the water it needs for the next 50 years. Not only could DWU supply all the requirements of UTRWD, but also DWU water would cost about a third less than water from Lake Ralph Hall.

With the KBR report in hand, Flower Mound invited the UTRWD board to come to a meeting about future water needs. The meeting was held January 31, 2005 at Flower Mound High School. UTRWD, which was given the KBR report in November, 2004, was invited to present their case for the proposed Lake Ralph Hall and to refute any findings in the KBR report that they thought were wrong. UTRWD refused to attend the water conference and said that they were proceeding with the Lake Ralph Hall project, regardless of what anyone said about the merits of the project.