Water System

Supplying water to North Texas communities is how the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) got its start. Visionary leaders from 10 neighboring cities recognized the benefit of pooling resources to obtain water rights and build the infrastructure necessary to provide water for thousands of North Texas residents. Today, we serve safe, reliable drinking water to over 2.3 million people across 2,200 square miles, and our region is expected to grow to 4.5 million people by 2080. 

This system was necessary as Texas does not have any natural lakes of significant size. Reservoirs are needed to control flooding and to collect and store surface water for treatment and delivery to meet regional water needs. Lavon Lake, located in Collin County, was the first reservoir constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to serve NTMWD communities, and it remains our largest water source today. In the Fall of 2022, NTMWD completed construction on Bois d'Arc Lake - the first reservoir to be built in Texas for over thirty years. NTMWD fully owns and operates Bois d'Arc Lake which is located in Fannin County as an additional water supply for those we serve. 

In addition to Lavon Lake and Bois d'Arc Lake, we also obtain raw water from Lake Texoma on the Texas-Oklahoma border and the East Fork Water Reuse Project, located along the East Fork of the Trinity River. We also have water rights to and obtain raw water from, Jim Chapman Lake (originally named Cooper Lake) on the South Sulphur River in Delta and Hopkins counties and Lake Tawakoni on the Sabine River in Rains and Van Zandt counties.

NTMWD owns and operates seven water treatment plants, 695+ miles of water transmission pipelines, twenty major raw and treated water pump stations, and has six major water supply sources to meet the existing water needs of our service area.

Our service area is comprised of 13 Member Cities and 34 Customer Cities and Utilities.