MCPUA’s goal: shared county water resources

By Rosanne Fohn

Anvil Herald Reporter

With warmer temperatures, continuing drought and the influx of new subdivisions into Medina County, water has become a major issue. 

  Those concerns are magnified across the state, and with the passage of Proposition 4 in the November 2025 election, the state was authorized to provide $20 billion in grants for water, infrastructure improvement and conservation projects over the next 20 years.

The Medina County Public Utility Agency, which will replace the Medina County Regional Water Alliance in June, is focused on those issues and accessing state funds to support water needs throughout Medina County. The group includes representatives from cities and water purveyors across Medina County, as well as the county itself. 

“The overall goal of the MCPUA is for water systems across Medina County to collaborate and work together to create long-term water resilience for the region,” said John Naron, MCPUA president and city manager of Hondo.

He said the group is currently working on three goals: 

• Interconnection – Connecting the water systems of all the entities together to help meet emergency needs, although each entity will retain control over its own water system. 

• Aquifer Storage and Recovery – ASR would allow the group to inject extra water from rainy years into the Trinity Aquifer and draw it out when the need arises. 

• Accessing and improving brackish water – The group is also looking into the feasibility of building a desalination plant to purify brackish aquifer water into potable water. Naron said this method has been successful in other areas of Texas. 

At the May 11 meeting, the board heard a presentation by Seven Seas Water Group regarding its desalination projects. According to its website, Seven Seas has provided desalinated water in Alice, Texas, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. 

   The water service contractor is being considered for similar desalination projects by city leaders in Corpus Christi and Port Aransas. Naron said Seven Seas is looking into the cost effectiveness of providing desalinated water for Medina County.

Other business at the May meeting included adopting bylaws, designating an administrator, establishing a tax ID and hiring Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend P.C., as general counsel for the MCPUA. The law firm was also counsel for the alliance.

Background

With the Texas Water Development Board encouraging the formation of regional groups to address localized needs, the Medina County Regional Water Alliance was formed in 2024.     

   The group includes representatives from cities and water purveyors in Medina County, as well as the county itself. 

Alliance members recently learned that the group needed to become a public utility agency to have better access to the state’s water project financing dollars. After all the entities considered and voted on the matter this spring, the regional water alliance had the support to disband at its next meeting on June 8 and to conduct business going forward as the Medina County Public Utility Agency.

“PUAs not formed before June 2025 can’t submit for some of the available grants. One entity in the alliance will have to submit for our group,” Naron said. Despite the setback, the group and its individual entities are working with Water Finance Exchange (WFX), a 501(c)(3) non-profit made up of water and finance professionals and technical experts. WFX works to develop and fund community-based water projects. The company facilitates the financing of long-term solutions using state and private funding for local water challenges.”

First potential grant

According to MCPUA Secretary Elizabeth Leal, the first grant the group plans to apply for is to connect all the member water systems. 

   “If we don’t get anything else, this will be a big help in times of emergencies,” she said.

Because one entity of the group must take the lead, WFX is in the preliminary stages of working with LaCoste to apply for a grant for interconnections. (Leal also serves as the general manager’s assistant/office administrator of the Yancey Water Supply Corp.) 

Officers

Other officers of the agency are Vice President Ronnie Lemmons, field manager of the East Medina County Special Utility District headquartered in Devine; and Treasurer David Jordan, Devine city administrator.

“I am proud of this group because you don’t see that many small entities come together to solve these problems,” Naron said. “We are going to create a blueprint for the rest of Texas to follow.”

  The group will meet on the second Tuesday of each month. The next meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on June 9 in the Medina County Courthouse Annex.