By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members said they will do what must be done to resolve the city’s ongoing water supply issues, even if that means raising water rates.
Council members discussed the water issues during a special meeting Thursday after hearing presentations by City Manager Shawna Burkhart, Interim Public Works Director Greg Velazquez and Daniel Diaz, an engineer with the city’s contracted engineering firm, International Consulting Engineers (ICE). (See separate stories.)
After the presentations, Mayor Al Arreola said about the recommended work to repair or reconstruct a retaining wall around the city’s East Springs.
“I guess from my side, on phase one (of the project), what exactly will be the total for that? What would be the cost on that?” Arreola asked.
City Manager Shawna Burkhart replied, “I believe the total cost for phase one. . . Just the phase one engineering is $45,844.”
Arreola said he recalled several years ago, some divers went into the spring pool, and asked about the work those divers did.
Interim Public Works Director Greg Velazquez replied, “That was two or three years ago, and there were some more prior to that, but they were just doing studies on the water, sampling the quality of the water and whatnot, but structural divers or engineers, we’ve never had that.”
Arreola asked if there were any other questions from the council.
Burkhart said she wanted to make a comment.
She told the council, “You’ve asked, in the first six months of my time here, to assess the most critical issues at hand; one being financial reconciliation and the second thing, water. So this would be the second priority in the grand scheme of my activities, and that’s why we bring it to you tonight.”
Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus said, “I don’t think any of us are happy that we need to talk about (incurring) $20 million of debt, especially with everything else that we have out there, but, Greg, I would assume on the water and wastewater side, we have projects on the books that we just haven’t done yet. Is that correct?”
“That’s correct,” Velazquez replied.
“So if we borrow the money, and we do get some of these grants in, we need to make sure that we write the CO (certificate of obligation) issuance, make sure that we work with the bond counsel, to make sure that we can then use that money for these other projects that we have to get done anyway,” DeReus said.
Burkhart also commented, “Basically, I’ve gone through and listed all of the projects by bond series, that have not been spent, and there’s only approximately three that have been designated for repurpose, but you had asked for that to be presented at the next council meeting on Dec. 10 (Tuesday), and that’s what I plan on doing, but if you’ll notice, those water and wastewater issues that are listed there, all of those are still standing issues, and we’ve only repurposed two to address the engineering for the East Springs.”
Councilman J.P. Sanchez said he wanted to ask a question about the Agarita well.
“We had talked about possibly getting a temporary filtration system connected to that so we can use that water and pump it into the (city’s water distribution) system also. How much water would that generate, if that were to come around?” Sanchez asked.
“We’re looking at about possibly 2 million gallons a day, just from that well, and we currently do have a temporary authorization from TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) to proceed with this project on the Agarita well,” Velazquez replied.
Sanchez added, “I’d also like to know how much we would be looking at there.”
“If we do the temporary authorization, with temporary filters, with the long-term (goal) of bringing it online, as we have talked about, with the membrane, and (the state) is letting us just disinfect using cartridge filters, that right there, we’re looking at a cost of possibly $2 million, just to refurbish (the well) and bring it online with cartridge filters,” Velazquez replied.
Sanchez said, “I think we need to look at all avenues, all possibilities that we have. The West (Springs) is going to be down for a little bit, but it’s going to come back on. The sky’s not falling, and the West (Springs) will produce enough water for our needs, including Laughlin’s, correct?”
“That’s correct,” Velazquez said.
“If that’s the only one we had, the West (Springs) can do that. And then, if we got the Agarita well going, at a cost of $2 million, that would also ease our water issues, so that we can actually do the repairs to the East Springs (retaining wall),” Sanchez added.
“That is correct,” Velazquez replied.
“We can fulfill our water needs with what we have,” Sanchez added.
Velazquez replied, “Mr. Sanchez, yes, you are correct, but I will add this. In the years that I’ve been here in the city of Del Rio, your two springs, when you have a rain event, will turn turbid, or they have a turnover once in a while. So when that happens, we would have to shut down completely, one spring, in order to operate the other spring, and then a couple of months would pass by, and then that would happen to the alternative spring, so in this case, if we don’t have that one spring, which would be the East Springs, if something does occur to the wall or we have to take time to rebuild that wall, we’re only dependent on the West Springs.”
Velazquez said rains can create backwash problems at the water treatment plant.
“You create what we call a frequent backwash, because that sand gets accumulated at the bottom of that membrane, so you’ll be backwashing more than what you’re producing, so in essence, it’s critical, like what you’re saying, to start working on this secondary well, but let’s also dedicate some time to the Agarita well, so that we can have that alternate source,” Velazquez said.
Sanchez asked, “The fence (around the East Springs pond) was actually built so that people wouldn’t get in the pond, and that extra weight that was put on that foundation didn’t help the foundation, and that’s probably what caused it to fracture, to crack. Now, does the wall actually retain water itself? From what I understand, it was just the perimeter of concrete that was there that actually retained the water, and then the wall was built so people couldn’t get in there.”
Velazquez replied, “So the difference was that back in the day, you had centrifugal pumps, and those centrifugal pumps. . . were at a lower elevation, so we didn’t depend on the submergence of the containment inside the pond or the pool, right? Through the years, as Del Rio began to grow, and we had TCEQ enforce us into some type of treatment process, we either had the option of going with conventional treatment or going with a newer technology (the membrane treatment system), and we opted for the newer technology, so for that newer technology, we needed to have submersible pumps that had a variable frequency drive.
“With the submersible pump, you need to have submergence, so you have to have at least 21 feet, and you need to have that (spring) pool basically at a level where you don’t have any type of cavitation within the pump system.
“To eliminate a submersible pump, we would have to redesign the full structure that holds currently the submersible pumps, to come in with a vertical turbine, so therefore your submergence (needs) would be less. . . So the way the (water treatment plant) was designed, they thought of, since we have the (retaining) wall, you can actually close the floodgates and thus raise the level (of the spring pool) to have that submergence because the water serves two purposes. It flows and it also has a cooling (effect), where it cools your impellers and whatnot, so that was the case then.
“Right now, we don’t have that submergence, and we’ve had some ideas of how we can address this immediately, but the whole source for the city is yes, we need to look at the options we have currently.
“We’ve depended on these springs for many, many years. In the 1930s, the 1950s, when you look at data, your (spring flow) was 60 to 80 million gallons a day coming out of those springs. Today, you saw that the high was 46 (million gallons a day), and your average is about 22 (million gallons a day). So it’s come down significantly, and that’s what’s impacting our water source,” Velazquez said.
Arreola asked if there were any other questions, then asked Burkhart if she needed a recommendation from the council to proceed.
“I would like city council to know that we will be developing a water rate study, based on these numbers, to present to you, so that the water rate study will be comprehensive in nature, and make the assumption that there will be debt related to these two, if not three (water) issues, so that would be number one,” Burkhart said.
“The second thing, I would like council to know is that we will bring back before you a repurposing of bond funds that we currently have, within the scope of the bonds, to address the engineering (costs) on the East Springs (retaining wall project), and that will be coming back before you very shortly, probably in the next two weeks, by Dec. 17, so we should have something to present to city council for your approval of that $45,844 for phase one of the engineering costs, and please know that we also would need a resolution, in case we go forward with debt, I have to have a resolution before we spend any money with the engineers, to say we will be reimbursed from future debt issuances for the engineering costs, and that will be on the 17th as well,” the city manager added.
She said she would also bring back to council other options for repurposing previously incurred debt from the water and wastewater fund to the council on Dec. 10.
“We’re going to have to do what we have to do. We’re going to have to prepare to say yes, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to say yes to whatever you bring us, because we can’t let this issue go by. We have to address it and address it as soon as possible,” Sanchez said.
“I think what was really important to me – and I’ll be honest, I thought the urgency was a little greater, until I met with Mr. Simpton – and he said you’re really okay, most likely, for next summer. It’s the following summer, if we have one more year of drought, that we will be in a critical path,” Burkhart said.
“But we’re looking at 18 to 24 months already, if we start right now, and that’s what we need to do. We need to start right now. So come back to us and tell us, ‘This is what you’re going to have to do,’ and we’re going to have to approve it, and then we go forward. We’ll figure out what we have to figure out,” Sanchez said.
Burkhart said she would soon present the council with a debt issuance schedule and how that could affect local water rates and a water rate study “so you will know that it can pay for the debt issuance.”
Arreola said, “I guess one of the key things we want to tell our citizens: We’re all right. We’re looking at a vision for the next four or five years, and we don’t want to continue kicking this bucket down the road, down the road. Now is the time for us to react to it.”
Arreola thanked Burkhart and Velazquez, and Burkhart also said she wished to acknowledge the members of Laughlin Air Force Base’s civil engineering team and the members of its public affairs office who were present at the meeting.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
