El Paso Water to buy Dell City ranch for $50 million

The Public Service Board is in the process of buying the 26,470-acre CL Ranch in the Dell City area east of El Paso for about $50 million as a future groundwater source for a growing El Paso. The land acquisition is expected to close this week or next week, said John Balliew, CEO of El Paso Water, which recently changed its name from El Paso Water Utilities. The Public Service Board controls the city's water and sewage utilities. Water would be imported from the ranch through an expensive pipeline system beginning in 2050, under El Paso Water's current plans. This would be the latest and most expensive West Texas land acquisition by the PSB as part of its long-range plan to eventually pump water from so-called water ranches from Hudspeth, Culberson and Jeff Davis counties to quench this area's future thirst. The PSB already owns 78,000 acres of ranch and farmland in the Dell City, Van Horn, and Valentine areas of West Texas for future water needs...more