Episode 75 - Interview With Mary Kelleher

Mary Kelleher ranches along the Trinity River with her husband - and about 100 head of cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, geese and the odd llama, turkey and peacock. In September of 2010, the Trinity River rose suddenly, flooding a large chunk of their ranch. Damage was horrendous... livestock drowned and farm equipment was destroyed. Worse yet, the cause was an unannounced release of water upstream and the water on her property didn't recede for months!

In trying to find out what happened and how to prevent it from happening again, Mary discovered that the Tarrant Regional Water District wasn't as focused as they should be on their mission of flood control and water supply. In 2013, she ran for TRWD Board to push for changes. She served four years as a TRWD Director - bringing transparency, accountability and sunshine!

Fast forward to now... Mary's ready to serve the public again! The economic development project known as Panther Island has not only diverted the Board's attention, it's become a true money pit with an ever-expanding budget and lengthening timeline.

What is the TRWD anyway? TRWD stands for Tarrant Regional Water District... and that's the source of water for cities in the area. So that's one resonsibility of TRWD: water supply. The other major TRWD responsibility is flood control. You may have seen photos of the historic Fort Worth flood in May 1949. After that, levees were built and Fort Worth has not seen a repeat of the Trinity River flooding the city.