East Texas leaders, state officials form water advisory board to protect region\u2019s resources<\/p>\n
Published 5:44 am Tuesday, April 14, 2026<\/p>\n
KILGORE \u2013 County judges, commissioners and state lawmakers will hold regular meetings to discuss regional water problems and solutions as part of a newly formed committee.<\/p>\n
The East Texas Water Advisory Board will bring together elected officials to discuss ways to protect the region\u2019s water resources and find safe, sustainable ways to use or sell water, among other objectives.<\/p>\n
Marion County Judge Leward LaFleur was appointed chairman of the board, and Longview businesswoman Brandee Brown was appointed vice chair during the board\u2019s first meeting Monday at the East Texas Council of Governments office in Kilgore.<\/p>\n
The council serves 14 East Texas counties and helps its leaders apply for grants and coordinate large-scale projects, such as broadband internet expansion and transportation programs.<\/p>\n
The board\u2019s formation comes as Texas lawmakers and regional leaders reckon with the reality that the state could face a water shortage in the coming years, prompting innumerable policy changes and political battles for water supplies. Water-related issues are expected to be one of the most pressing issues for state lawmakers in the 2027 legislative session.<\/p>\n
Northeast Texas has the most plentiful water supplies in the state, making it a target for the ever-growing thirst of North Texas. In 2025, controversy erupted in the region over the rumored sale of water rights from Lake O\u2019 the Pines to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The proposed sale of water rights from the Northeast Texas Municipal Water District, which manages Lake O\u2019 the Pines, to the North Texas Municipal Water District was scrapped.<\/p>\n
However, LaFleur and other East Texas leaders warn that North Texas water planners will continue to turn to this region as a future water source, so protecting the region\u2019s surface water and groundwater will be vital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a bounty of natural resources, and the No. 1 being water,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cWe got a lot of water here, and a lot of people want the water that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The water planning board\u2019s authority and role haven\u2019t been fully defined yet, LaFleur said. That\u2019ll be up to its members moving forward. But at the very least, the group will bring together local government officials so they can find factual information about the region\u2019s water resources and provide that to state lawmakers as they decide the state\u2019s water-related future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the No. 1 goal is, \u2018How do we get information to lawmakers that isn\u2019t from the paid spokesperson of X, Y, Z company?\u2019 \u201d LaFleur said. \u201cWe\u2019re just local officials talking to local people.\u201d
The board\u2019s meetings will be open to the public and will include a public comment portion.<\/p>\n
Advisory board members need to distill the often murky details surrounding water-related discussions, and members of the public need accurate information, LaFleur said. Too many social media pages and groups are filled with information that is inaccurate and fear-based.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a hot topic,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a hot topic for generations, not just years.\u201d<\/p>\n
By bringing together East Texas officials to form a coalition, its leaders can be more effective and have a stronger presence when water-related decisions are made in Austin, LaFleur said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just in our infancy,\u201d he said of the advisory board. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out what we can and can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n
LaFleur, Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt, Smith County Judge Neal Franklin, Harrison County Pct. 1 Commissioner William Hatfield, Anderson County Judge Carey McKinney and Laura-Ashley Overdyke of the Caddo Lake Institute are among the board\u2019s voting members.<\/p>\n
State lawmakers will be ex-officio members of the committee, meaning they will not cast votes, but will attend meetings to discuss matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve put together a pretty good group to come up with ideas,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cRight now, the possibilities are endless.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"East Texas leaders, state officials form water advisory board to protect region\u2019s resources Published 5:44 am Tuesday, April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-249045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}