Shouldn’t water from the Mesa Water stay in the Panhandle so that it will be available to meet future needs, particularly for agriculture?
Most of the people who want to sell their water are longtime residents and ranchers in the four-county area who want to preserve their lifestyles for future generations. Mesa Water will do nothing to jeopardize that lifestyle because the aquifer’s supply is beyond any local municipal, domestic, and livestock demands. Without any doubt, ample water is assured indefinitely for these uses. Due to the topography of the Mesa Water land of mostly rolling hills, canyons and mesas, farming is not a viable option. Only about 4% or 100,000 acres of the northeast Texas Panhandle is suitable and used for farming out of 2.5 million acres in the four counties of Hemphill, Lipscomb, Ochiltree and Roberts.
