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John Grant (right) gave Elyndabeth Toland and Keith Pittner a copy of Water in a Dry and Thirsty Land by Joe Pickle during the recent Historic Scurry County, Inc., meeting.
After talking about its history, John Grant, general manager of the Colorado River Municipal Water District (CRMWD), talked about the district’s ongoing projects at its three lakes, including Lake J.B. Thomas in Scurry County.
The CRMWD is in the design phase of a pump station replacement project at Lake J.B. Thomas. The pump station at the lake was built in the 1950s, and Grant said the CRMWD will go out for bids later in the year.
“We will hopefully have a contract with a construction company by the end of 2016,” Grant said.
The CRMWD is also replacing its Morgan Creek pump station, which is located about halfway between Lake Thomas and Big Spring.
Grant showed a video about how the CRMWD came to be in 1949, the product of the efforts of Julian B. Thomas, Owen H. Ivie and E.V. Spence. After the video, Grant showed a slideshow illustrating how rainfall has impacted West Texas.
“The district has added customer cities, like San Angelo, Stanton, Robert Lee and Abilene,” he said. “We also have 12 industrial customers and about 300 rural customers.”
Grant said the recent rains allowed lakes like J.B. Thomas to attract visitors again, though it may be a little longer before serious fishing can take place.
“I know they restocked Thomas in 2014 and again last year, after the rains we had in May,” Grant said. “It’s going to take a couple of years before the fish are big enough to be caught for recreational purposes.”
The presentation, at the Scurry County Library, was part of the monthly Historic Scurry County, Inc. meeting.