In my first meeting with the Irving City Manager, as a young Councilmember and subsequent Mayor, I was told the most important issue I would ever deal with is water.
In the 1950’s, Irving recognized the decreasing sustainability of water supplies for Texas cities, and began planning. Engineers, consultants, attorneys, and elected officials shared a vision for the largest public works project in Irving’s history. In 1968, the City acquired water rights from Cooper Lake (100 miles east), conditioned upon Irving’s construction of a 72 inch transmission pipeline spanning five Texas counties. In 2003, we celebrated the arrival of our sustainable water supply.