By Nicole Kimball

Special to the Tribune

On Friday, April 11, the North Texas Water District (NTMWD) board decided to abandon their proposal to buy the water rights to Lake O’ the Pines. Instead, they’ve negotiated a deal to get water from resources closer to them.

This decision comes after several months of uproar from Northeast Texas cities and counties, thousands of residents and leaders speaking out against the Lake O’ the Pines proposed water sale during Northeast Texas Municipal Water District (NETMWD) meetings since the start of 2025.

This announcement came from Texas Representative Jay Dean, who praised the people of Northeast Texas. He said in a social media post, “The following cities and counties acted quickly to protect their communities and passed resolutions against the sell of water rights: Jefferson, Daingerfield, Uncertain, Longview, Lone Star, Marion County, Morris County, Upshur County, Gregg County, Harrison County and Cass County. Thank you to these local leaders and thank you to all the community members who showed up repeatedly to speak at commissioners court and city council meetings! I want to also thank Lake O’ the Pines Chamber for their tireless efforts and leadership, as well as The Caddo Institute for their support. The work by these individuals, organizations and entities will serve as a warning flag for any future attempts to take our water. We have put the entire state on notice that we are not for sale!”

Additionally, Rep. Dean explained that during a budget hearing in Austin, he added an amendment that would prohibit the TCEQ from “spending any money reviewing or approving inter-basin transfer of water out of the Cypress Basin to Region C (metroplex) for the next two years, which is the life of this budget cycle.”

On NTMWD’s official website, in their featured news reports, their only statement as of April 14 says that they are not currently in active negotiations with NETMWD regarding the water purchase from Lake O’ the Pines. It goes on to say “we continue to believe a future agreement for the sale of water could make sense for North Texas and Northeast Texas.”

Brandee Brown, Vice-Present for the Lake O’ the Pines Chamber, commented about the announcement, “What they’ve abandoned is the 2023 negotiation that began with Wayne Owen back on February 24. That ended with Wayne’s termination. We saved the lakes, now we must protect the lakes.”