By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members during their Nov. 19 meeting approved advertising for engineering services to develop a water well in north Del Rio.
The council approved a resolution “to authorize and direct the city manager to advertise a request for qualifications for professional engineering services for the development of the Agarita water well for the city of Del Rio.”
After City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the agenda item, Mayor Al Arreola asked for a motion.
Councilman J.P. Sanchez made a motion to approve the resolution, with Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez giving the second.
After the motion and second, Arreola asked if any of the council members had questions for City Manager Shawna Burkhart or for Interim Public Works Director Greg Velazquez.
None of the council members had questions, and when Arreola called for a vote on Sanchez’s motion, all six of the council members present voted in favor of it.
In a memo about the resolution included in the council members’ informational packet, City Purchasing Agent Luis Menchaca explained why the city is seeking – once again – to use the old Agarita well as an additional source of water.
“In recent years, the city of Del Rio has experienced severe drought conditions, potentially threatening the public water system supply from the San Felipe Springs. The city has been evaluating long-term water resource security improvements and has recently coordinated with TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) for emergency temporary use authorization of its existing Agarita well, located (in the) north of the city on Agarita Drive, if spring supply to the water treatment plant is interrupted,” Menchaca wrote in his memo.
Menchaca noted in the past, the Agarita well was used as a public water supply source for more than 20 years before its use was discontinued, and the well became inactive.
“An inactive water well refers to a well that has not been used for over a year, but permanent abandonment has not taken place. The use of this well ceased due to groundwater under surface influence (GUI) concerns and related recurring bacterial contamination,” he wrote.
Menchaca also noted, “Agarita can be activated once more and be temporarily used during this drought emergency with the addition of a filtration and primary disinfection device. Agarita is a 387-foot deep open hole Edwards well developed in the Salmon Peak (geologic) formation and cased to 314 feet.”
Menchaca wrote the Agarita well historically produced a water quantity of “up to about 2,000 gallons per minute with a 90-foot drawdown.”
“The well needs to be cleaned (jetted), logged, pump tested and sampled to confirm production capacity and water quality. If these evaluations support public water system use, then final design will proceed promptly,” Menchaca wrote.
He also wrote the requests for qualifications (RFQs) sought by the city are for “selection of an engineering firm to complete final design, coordinate related plans, specifications and design report approval with TCEQ, provide bid support and provide construction administration.”
“The city intends to recommend the awarding of a contract to the highest evaluated vendor. Once staff has come to a consensus on a selected firm, a resolution to approve the negotiation will be brought back to city council for approval,” Menchaca wrote.
He said once the RFQs are received, “a committee consisting of (city) staff members in key positions” will review and evaluate them “based on criteria included in the request for qualifications document.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
