By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City Manager Shawna Burkhart told city council members she believes there are three water projects the city must take on to address the city’s ongoing water supply issues. Burkhart shared those priorities during a special city council meeting recently.
The city manager told the council she would be sharing the evening’s presentation with Interim Public Works Director Greg Velazquez.
Members of Laughlin Air Force Base’s civil engineering squadron and its public affairs office were among those attending the meeting.
Velazquez prefaced his presentation by telling the council and audience members, “First of all, I want to make the remark that we are not in great danger, okay? There is a concern we need to address, and as a council and administration together as a whole, we can address this issue together. Let’s keep that in mind.”
Velazquez began his presentation by saying the East and West San Felipe Springs, located on the grounds of the municipal golf course, are the raw water source for the city of Del Rio and Laughlin Air Force Base.
“The raw water pump stations consist of the East Springs Pump Station and the West Springs Pump Station. The East Springs has three vertical turbine pumps with submersible motors that withdraw water from the spring’s surface pool. The West Springs has three vertical turbine pumps with submersible motors that withdraw water from wells that penetrate the underground springs cavern,” Velazquez said.
He showed a photo of the limestone formation at the bottom of the pool formed by the springs.
Velazquez also showed a photo of the three pumps at the East Springs raw water pump station, which are each rated to pump 4,200 gallons of water per minute from the springs, for a total of 12,600 gallons per minute.
He said there are also three pumps at the West Springs Pump Station. The first pump is rated to pump 6,000 gallons of water per minute, and the two remaining pumps are rated to pump 2,800 gallons per minute, totaling 11,600 gallons per minute.
Velazquez said the larger pump at the West Springs is currently out of service and will be pulled for repairs.
He said the current average raw water pumpage from the East and West Springs is 7.54 million gallons per day, with the high rate of 9.21 million gallons per day and a low rate of 5.47 million gallons per day.
“So just by the amount of pumps we have available tells you that we can sustain the needs of the city of Del Rio in regards to pumpage,” Velazquez said.
He said the total amount of treated water produced is 6.91 million gallons per day, with the highest for the month of November at 8.64 million gallons per day and a low of 4.67 gallons per day.
“The spring flow average is 22.94 million gallons per day, with a high, that we saw in November of 42.46 million gallons per day and, of course, we don’t have a low,” Velazquez said.
“As of today, the high flow pump at the West Springs is down for repairs, so we’re currently running two pumps at the West Springs, and both pumps at the East Springs, and we do have an additional pump at the East Springs that we can bring online,” Velazquez said.
Burkhart continued the presentation, telling council, “Today, we have three priorities for your consideration. I will first say that I have consulted not only with Mr. Velazquez, but I have also met with Mr. Jerry Simpton, who is our local expert on water resources here in Del Rio, and after speaking with him and with Mr. Velazquez, we have three priority items (to present) in order of importance.”
Burkhart said the first priority is the development of a second water well for the city.
“The first priority is what will bring us more (water) volume and capacity, and that would be the second well. The second well is approximately $14 million, estimated. There is not an estimate of probable cost as of yet, because we have not yet hired an engineer to work on that project. We have not financed this project to date, and so, if we move forward on it, it would be, as you see that the bottom of the slide, water rates will increase based on new water debt,” Burkhart said.
“However, there are three options before you for financing a $14 million well. First is applying for the DCIP grant, and we plan on doing that, and the (EPA’s) Water Smart grant, which we have already applied for. We can also apply with the Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation for Installation Resilience, which focuses on shared infrastructure, and it also works on grants and technical assistance to provide engineering studies of the issue, and this is per Mr. Jack Hession of Madison Government Associates. He just emailed me about that today,” Burkhart said.
She noted the city could also take on new debt for the project through the city’s water/wastewater enterprise fund, although, as she said previously, such new debt would likely require the city to raise its water rates.
Burkhart also told the council, based on her experience with a similar well project in Bay City, Texas, she believes “the timeline for construction is generally 18 months, with six months for engineering, and construction taking anywhere between 12 to 18 months.”
“With that in mind, the city has been exceptionally fortunate to (be able to) keep our water rates fairly low, and if we were to issue debt, new debt through the city’s water/wastewater enterprise fund, it would require us to increase our water rates,” Burkhart said.
The city manager said any new debt for the water projects would have to be issued by April 2025 “with a resolution for reimbursement for professional services for engineering.”
“And you may ask yourself why. After speaking with Mr. Simpton, he made sure that we knew that we have gone through these winter months without using the East Springs pumps, and only now have we started using them since this pump has gone down at the West Springs.
“But with that said, he said with the drought this year, and considering one more year of drought, in two summers we will possibly hit a critical path, where we need to have a second source of water. That’s 24 months away, and that’s exactly what we have before us for issuing debt, if we were to issue debt and not receive any grant funds.
“We would have to issue debt and also do a resolution for reimbursement for professional services for engineering because we would have to start to expend the funds for engineering services right away, and we would want to reimburse ourselves once the debt has been issued,” Burkhart said.
The city manager said the second priority is the repair or reconstruction of a retaining wall around the pool of water formed by the East Springs.
Burkhart said, “We do not know what the estimate of probable cost is, but we can estimate approximately $2 million, with new debt of approximately $1.8 million. Now, why is that? Because we have the ability to reassign some money from the 2019 COs for the wastewater treatment plant upgrades and move that to ‘East Springs wall repair and reconstruction.’ The initial cost would go to engineering, and any remaining costs would be construction.
“We also have the ability to reassign from the 2019D CO series, which was assigned for water storage tank painting, $129,000, and then we just received the estimate of probable cost for engineering costs (for the wall repair or reconstruction), and that is $45,844.
“The timeline for engineering, and ICE (International Consulting Engineers) is here and they will be presenting next to you (See separate story), and he may tell you a shorter timeline, but I still have six months, potentially, give or take, and again, any new debt would have to be done by April 2025, with a resolution for reimbursement for engineering services,” Burkhart said.
Burkhart told the council the third priority on her list is the rehabilitation of the Agarita well.
“If we were to do that and move forward, it would be approximately $2 million, and that is a rough estimate. So please note, that any debt, and I liken this to home purchase, anytime you purchase a home, you have to make your home payments monthly. We, too, have to make our debt payments. Not monthly, but biannually, but that is paid for through water rates, and so water rates would have to increase,” Burkhart said.
Reach the writer at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
