Published: September 21, 2009 06:26 pm      

Rodgers fighting for water rights

As general manager of the Neches & Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District, Roy Rodgers knows the value of water.

“It’s important that rural areas like Anderson County unite together for the protection of our resources,” Rodgers pointed out. “Water is very valuable. There are those who say in 50 years, water will be more important than oil.”

For the past three years plus, the 66-year-old Rodgers has served as general manager of the NTVGCD. Prior to assuming his current position, he was a member of the district’s board of directors.

According to its Web site, the NTVGCD operates with the mission of implementing an efficient, economical and environmentally sound groundwater management program to protect and enhance the water resources of the aquifers within the district which includes Anderson, Henderson and Cherokee counties.

“In those three counties, we’ve got about 12,000 water wells,” Rodgers explained. “We permit about 200 new wells every year.”

The district was approved by voters in November 2001, passing in all three counties. It started operations slightly more than six years ago, beginning in July 2003.

Rodgers, who worked for the federal government for almost 29 years before retiring in December 1997, said the NTVGCD is “a fee-based district,” gaining its revenues through a surcharge on commercial and industrial water users (2.5 cents for every 1,000 gallons of usage).

Agricultural users and single unit households are exempt from the fees, he added.

Since East Texas has an apparent abundance of water, larger cities needing the precious resource will continue to come calling in the coming years.

Rodgers said those holding the resource should not automatically turn a deaf ear to the outsiders wanting it.

“We’re very blessed here to have the groundwater we have,” Rodgers said. “We shouldn’t be saying other users shouldn’t have our water, we just need to be sure if they get it, that there’s an economic benefit to East Texas. Why not bring some money to East Texas?”

The NTVGCD also presents water conservation education to fifth graders throughout the district. Last year, the program reached almost 1,600 students.

Currently, there are a total of 99 groundwater conservation districts in the state. Many counties, however, do not belong to such a district. A number of those counties are primarily north of Cherokee and Henderson counties and east of Dallas.

“In East Texas, we are blessed with so much water,” said Rodgers, explaining the absence of some East Texas counties from such districts. “they never felt a need to have a groundwater district.”

On a side note, Rodgers was named after actor/country singer Roy Rogers who was experiencing the height of his popularity at the time of Rodgers’ birth in the early 1940s.

“He (Rogers) had become popular when I was born,” Rodgers said, “so I was named after him.”

Outside of his work responsibilities, Rodgers serves as chairman of deacons at Evangelistic Temple in Palestine.

Rodgers, who lives in Montalba, also describes himself as “a pretty avid woodworker,” building the cabinets at his current home and some furniture from time to time. With eight grandchildren living in the Fort Worth area, he also has built cradles, rocking horses and other similar toys.

Gardening is another of Rodgers’ hobbies.

“I do a vegetable garden and I create flower beds and stuff,” Rodgers said.

Once the garden and beds are developed, Rodgers said he turns them over to his wife, Colleen, for maintenance.

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Paul Stone may be contacted via e-mail at pstone@palestineherald.com