CANADIAN RIVER MUNICIPAL WATER AUTHORITY

CANADIAN RIVER MUNICIPAL WATER AUTHORITY. The Canadian River project received federal authorization in December 1950, and in November 1953 the legislature authorized it to organize as a legal entity and independent political subdivision of Texas. Eleven cities formed the authority: Amarillo, Borger, Pampa, Plainview, Lubbock, Slaton, Brownfield, Levelland, Lamesa, Tahoka, and O'Donnell. Under a tri-state compact (Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico), Texas was entitled to 100,000 acre-feet of water a year for use by the member cities and 51,000 acre-feet for use by industries. In 1960 a repayment contract between the United States government and the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority was executed for construction of the project. The repayment schedule for the authority provided for the repayment, with interest, over a fifty-year period. Each city negotiated a contract with the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority for that city's estimate of water needs and the city's assumption of a percentage of the construction debt. Sale of water to cities outside of the authority is possible only by a city's willingness to release a portion of its water. The dam, crossing the Canadian River nine miles west of Borger, is 226 feet high and 6,380 feet long. The aqueduct system, with 322 miles of pipeline, ten pumping plants, and three regulating reservoirs, furnishes municipal and industrial water to the cities of the authority.