I don't know where you get your info. I own land in the Navasot in Brazos Co. Up until 4-6 yr ago it went dry or nearly dry many summer months . It hasn't come close in years. I think there is release for Welborn pumping at Sulphur Springs, maybe some kind of low level dam south of 30 and higher Brazos levels. Add in the new waste water treatment plant on Wickson and I see the water levels on the Navasota significantly higher in summer on average than I saw in the 90s, 2000, 2010s.

EBrazosAg said:

---

I don't know where you get your info. I own land in the Navasot in Brazos Co. Up until 4-6 yr ago it went dry or nearly dry many summer months . It hasn't come close in years.

---

That's good to know. My place is near the Wellborn Rd and Hwy 6 juntion so towards the lower end of the Navasota. Ive never seen it close to dry but ive seen flow down to a standstill in recent years. Just concerned of what might happen if pumping volume is shifted from the Brazos to the much smaller Navasota.

On a related note, if there are pumping needs for Wellborn water at Sulphur Springs but Terafab is up stream, doesnt that give Terafab priority? I wish these types of concerns were fully researched and understood before everyone just blindly fan-girls out in support of the project. We really should know how much pumping they plan to do. Water rationing is already a problem, a lot of summers. I dont want to hear any Oopsies from our politicians when something like water draw is biting us in the rear in 5 years.

CS78 said:

---

EBrazosAg said:

---

I don't know where you get your info. I own land in the Navasot in Brazos Co. Up until 4-6 yr ago it went dry or nearly dry many summer months . It hasn't come close in years.

---

That's good to know. My place is near the Wellborn Rd and Hwy 6 juntion so towards the lower end of the Navasota. Ive never seen it close to dry but ive seen flow down to a standstill in recent years. Just concerned of what might happen if pumping volume is shifted from the Brazos to the much smaller Navasota.

On a related note, if there are pumping needs for Wellborn water at Sulphur Springs but Terafab is up stream, doesnt that give Terafab priority? I wish these types of concerns were fully researched and understood before everyone just blindly fan-girls out in support of the project. We really should know how much pumping they plan to do. Water rationing is already a problem, a lot of summers. I dont want to hear any Oopsies from our politicians when something like water draw is biting us in the rear in 5 years.

---

Fair enough to be sure.

Water rights for the reservoir originated with TMPA's Certificate of Adjudication No. 12-5311 (priority date 1977, authorizing impoundment of ~26,800+ acre-feet for industrial use, with later amendments). These rights largely transferred with the property. The coal fired power plant consumed more water per day than Terafab likely will- with an important distinction in HOW the water is used.

Bottom line: The old coal plant likely had higher peak withdrawal volumes tied to its cooling needs (potentially hundreds of MGD in some operating modes), with a lot of that water returned after use. The smokestack cranked out mostly steam with embedded trace pollutants to the tune of several million gallons of water per day- but- the coal plant also returned several million gallons back into Gibbons Creek Reservoir daily, BUT it warmed the water, and as we all know and simple physics dictates, warmer water evaporates significantly faster than ambient temperature water.

Basically Terafab is expected to use lower total volumes per day overall but in a more consumptive way (Ultra Pure Water (UPW) processing + cooling with less return flow).

The reservoir's historical role as an industrial cooling water supply for almost 4 decades with no significant water shortages makes it well-suited for the transition to this use- at least in the eyes of the state of Texas and SpaceX.

Disclaimer: Actual Terafab numbers will be refined through permitting and engineering.

This brownfield site holds key advantages for both power and water compared to greenfield sites and possibly any other brownfield site they looked at.

Respectfully

Yancy '95

You're too late with worrying on this. Gibbons Creek Power used up far more water than Terafab will. This line of worrying would have been appropriate 20 years ago. But thankfully it is now woefully out of date. See Mr. Yancy's remarks above.

We know they are planning to pump from the Navasota. Or at least they plan to be able to. Do we know how much Brazos pumping rights they have acquired and if they're trying to purchase more?

If they're going after significantly more than what the power plant had, that should be a red flag and we should be asking why!

It seems like the lake is a good fit but what's to say they don't use the lake as their backup plan and the river as their main source? Looking at it from their end, that would be the wiser choice. The power plant would have operated with profits as the main driver, meaning it was cheaper to use the lake first rather than buying more pumping rights and spending the money to pump. Musk has a much deeper wallet, and will likely make decisions based on what is least likely to interrupt production during an extended drought.

There will be significant increases in flow when the new Bryan Wickson Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant comes on line - Wickson Creek empties into Navasota a mile above Hwy 30.

Lets be honest, nobody knows how much water the proposed use will actually use. The company hasn't released any hard numbers so everything is just a guess at this point.

EFR said:

---

Lets be honest, nobody knows how much water the proposed use will actually use. The company hasn't released any hard numbers so everything is just a guess at this point.

---

While true, it should still be significantly less than a data center, which is the current bugaboo for NIMBYs.

WIT TECH LLC, Elon Musk, can do whatever he/they want with the water in Gibbon's Creek Resorvoir. They own the land and water rights to the Resorvoir. The state owns the surface water but hell, Elon even now owns the spillway. I am sure that they have a commitment to TCEQ about down stream flow rates for Gibbon's Creek but beyond that usage is up to them. That would be equilvalent to someone telling you that you can't drain a pond and fill it in on your ranch.

If anyone wants to look up a particular water right, you can go to the TCEQ Water Rights Viewer.
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ccf87bc930604daca3c2148baa266434

Zooming in on Gibbons Creek Reservoir, you can click on the green dot at the dam. From there you can open a pdf of the water right, Certificate of Adjudication 12-5311 (as amended). The current amendment as of April 11, 2024 is 12-5311C which you will find on the last 3 pages of the pdf.
https://gisweb.tceq.texas.gov/WRRetrieveRights/?ID=ADJ5311

The TCEQ Water Rights Viewer doesn't tell you if an application has been filed to amend a water right. That information is over at https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/water_rights/wr-permitting/view-wr-pend-apps
There doesn't appear to be an application filed on 12-5311 at this time.

Well there you have it. No need for hand-wringing about all the "what ifs" in the world.

Thanks for posting that.