About Us

A History of Spring Valley Water

It all began in 1963 because of a drought. Russell Judd was hauling potable water from the Lehigh Concrete plant near Waco to supplement his farming income. This kept him very busy as stock tanks were dry and the shallow wells in the area were producing very little water. Russell was providing a needed service.

One afternoon he was making a delivery of water to Mr. E K Yarbrough, because his well had gone dry. Mr Yarbrough handed Russell an article from the Waco newspaper about a new program initiated by the Farmers Home Administration. FMHA would lend money at a low interest rate for 40 years to construct rural water systems. After much discussion, Russell and E.K. decided to visit US Congressman Bob Poage who was on the Congressional Agriculture Committee. Congressman Poage agreed to assist them with the task of obtaining funding for the project. The first board meeting was held July 7, 1964. The board members were E.K. Yarbrough, Carroll Hatter, V.P. Murphy, H.B. Warren, and Russell Judd. Russell was the secretary. The lawyer who met with the board was William Sessions who later became the director of the FBI. Duff Engineering was employed as the engineer who would assist the water system with the paper work.

Russell, his wife Patsy, and E.K. initiated the laborious task of coordinating the paper work. An extensive number of hours were spent by Russell and Patsy and volunteers obtaining the required numbers of commitments for the minimum of 80 meters. They finally reached their goal and the system was off and running. Funding was received April 1965 and construction of pipelines and drilling of a well started. The final inspection of the first phase of Spring Valley WSC was August 13, 1965. Immediately water began to flow to the rural homes in Spring Valley because of the dedication of a few who cared for their community. When the first bills were mailed out, about 12 members dropped their membership because of a bill of $7.50 for the first 3000 gallons of water. The system finally recovered as members who had left the system came back because Russell quit hauling water. More residents wanted the wonderful water their neighbors were receiving so an expansion was immediately started and completed in 1969.