KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — Cities across Bell County are working to secure local communities with water for the future by supporting the Central Texas Water Alliance.
- Allows cities to work together for water
- Killeen, Harker Heights, and Belton show support
- Will be filed in the 88th Texas Legislature in 2025
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"One thing I can say about this council is, your main focus on 10 to 20 years is how we grow and we want to grow responsibly," Mayor Debbie Nash-King said.
The Killeen City Council is discussing their reasons for supporting the Central Texas Water Alliance, even though the city says they have enough water for over 50 years, based on projected growth.
The goal of the alliance is to show support for each other as they fight to have water in their communities for the future.
"It is very very significant of position that we are in looking to consider the future and this does have my support, and I do appreciate the intuition from our state rep on this," said Michael Boyd with District 4.
An alliance with multiple cities throughout Central Texas, some in Bell County is hoping to be created through the passage of legislation authority.
Filed by local state representative, Brad Buckley and State Senator Pete Flores in the 88th Texas Legislature in 2025.
"It just allows us to work collaborate instead of individually on water needs," said Richard Garrett with WCID 1.
Texas is the fastest growing state with approximatley 1,300 new Texans a day.
The council says Bell County and Central Texas are some of the hottest areas, but they projecting a water supply shortfall in 2070 of almost 14.7 billion gallons.
The City of Belton says they have secured enough water to last decades.
In Temple, the city says they will not be joining the alliance but remain open to future membership or joining projects when more details about the initiatives become available.
Based on a study done in December of 2023, Harker Heights has 8,800 acre feet of raw water currently under contract most of the supply coming from lake Belton with 300 acres of feet in Lake Stillhouse.
The city estimates it will need 10,000 acre-feet of raw water for at 50,000 population — the city is currently at 36,000.
"Parts of Milam, Falls, and the counties surrounding Bell County are also represented," Garrett said.
Showing support is only the first step — Belton, Harker Heights, and Killeen are trying to secure a future water line and funds for generations to come.
It costs the cities nothing to become apart of the alliance, but officials say in the future, our residents could see this in their water rates.
Bridging this gap will take some time but the next step will take place on November 11 — this alliance stands for all communities urban and rural.
