Page 31 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2026 - Online Magazine
P. 31
LEVELLAND HISTORY
Water comes out of the tap. Industry
has supply. The miracle is forgotten.
But reality has a way of stripping
away comforting illusions. Over
the years, it became obvious that
local groundwater alone could not
carry the future burden. At the same
time, Lake Meredith itself proved
vulnerable to drought, fluctuating
inflows, and water-quality
challenges. The CRMWA story
entered a second chapter—one that
turned out to be just as important as
the first.
That second chapter took shape in
the 1990s, when CRMWA began
looking seriously at groundwater
rights in Roberts County and at
broader strategies to stabilize
supply. In 1994 the board approved
the purchase of water rights, and
in 1996 CRMWA sold bonds and
closed on those purchases. The John
C. Williams Aqueduct and Wellfield
went into operation in December
2001, initially providing about 35
percent of total demand.
Looking back, that move came at
exactly the right time.
While the original CRMWA vision
was bold, the Roberts County
wellfield was proof that the
organization understood a hard
truth: one good idea is not enough
The people who supported CRMWA The project slowly became real. for dry country. Water security in
were not responding to a full- Construction began in 1962. The West Texas must be expanded and
blown disaster. They were seeking last joint of pipe was laid in 1966, re-engineered. It cannot be inherited
to prevent one. It is easier to spend and on April 1, 1968, regular water and forgotten.
money when the emergency is deliveries began. What had once
visible, when fear has replaced sounded like a wild idea was now By 2010, CRMWA had expanded
debate. It is much harder to ask a working system of steel, concrete, the wellfield with additional high-
taxpayers to invest in a distant, pumps, valves, and moving water. capacity wells. In 2011 it struck the
massive, complicated system when What had seemed far-fetched major Mesa Water deal associated
conditions still allow people to became part of daily life. with T. Boone Pickens. And by
believe tomorrow will look like 2012, an astonishing milestone had
yesterday. In that sense, Levelland’s For a time, success may have arrived: after 44 years of service,
participation was ambitious. It was disguised how important that year became the first in which
choosing to think past the next the decision really was. Big no water was pulled from Lake
election, the next season, and most infrastructure often suffers from Meredith. The backup plan had
importantly, the next generation. a strange problem: once it works, become the plan. What once looked
people stop being amazed by it. like insurance had become survival.
Lubbock Senior Link 31
