Dateline: March 8, 2007

State approves $500k loan to water district


AUSTIN – The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today approved financial assistance in the amount of $500,000 to the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District  to purchase approved agricultural water conservation equipment.

The funds are available through the TWDB’s Agricultural Water Conservation Loan Program. Under this program, the TWDB can make loans to lender districts such as the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District.

In turn, the lender districts make loans to individual borrowers (farmers, ranchers, etc.) to purchase and install more efficient irrigation equipment on private property. The District will utilize these funds to make loans to individual borrowers for the purchase of center pivot irrigation systems.

The District jurisdictional area covers all or parts of nine counties in the Texas Panhandle, including Carson, Gray, Donley, Roberts, Armstrong, Potter, Hutchinson, Hemphill, and Wheeler.

The TWDB is the state agency charged with collecting and disseminating water-related data, assisting with regional planning, and preparing the State Water Plan for the development of water resources and administering cost-effective financial programs for the construction of water supply, wastewater treatment, flood control and agricultural water conservation projects.