By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Two existing water wells and one new well are being considered as alternate water sources for Del Rio, a city administrator told city council members Tuesday.
Assistant City Public Works Director Greg Velazquez made his comments during a special workshop meeting of the council. Velazquez gave a presentation on the effects of the ongoing south Texas drought on the San Felipe Springs and the city’s search for additional water sources.
Velazquez said the city has investigated several sites as possible locations for new water wells and has all but settled on an area north of the city’s golf course known as the archery range.
“Depending on test results, this site may be viable as a secondary water source,” Velazquez told the council.
“If the water quality test results confirm it is groundwater, the well water (from the site) would only require disinfection prior to introduction into the city water distribution system. So if it comes out that this is groundwater, with no surface water indicators, no type of pollutants or contaminants or high total dissolved solids, we can actually pump this water directly into our reservoir, our storage tanks, with just chlorine disinfection.
“If the results come out and confirm that it is groundwater under the influence of surface water, with surface water indicators or some type of coliform bacteria, the water is in close proximity to the water treatment plant and can be piped into the water plant for filtration and disinfection prior to introduction into the city water distribution system,” Velazquez said.
Mayor Al Arreola said the council had heard the “pros” of the plan.
“What about the cons? There were some people that were against this,” Arreola said.
“That was (a planned well in) another location, in the Jap Lowe area. This is right in the same vicinity where the (current) springs are located,” Velazquez replied.
He then showed council members a Google maps view of the proposed well location, showing the archery range site north of the San Felipe Springs Golf Course on land the city had purchased several years ago with an eye on possibly expanding the golf course.
Arreola asked, “I guess I’m not an expert, but if we drill there, it’s not going to affect anybody around there?”
“No sir, it shouldn’t. I mean, there’s wells being drilled all over Val Verde County,” Velazquez replied.
He echoed the same assurances after the meeting, telling the 830 Times it is believed the recharge area of the West and East Springs stem from two different geologic formations underground and the proposed archery range well will come from a different portion of the water-bearing underground formation.
Another possible secondary source for city water is a well off Agarita Drive in north Del Rio, Velazquez told the council.
“The Agarita well has gone through several attempts to bring (it) online. The issue is
that the water (from the Agarita well) is GUI (groundwater under the influence of surface water factors). The water (from the Agarita well) needs to be filtered and disinfected before introduction into the city water distribution system,” he said.
“One option is to construct a small water treatment plant (at the Agarita well site), consisting of two water filter skids and a small chlorination system at the location to treat the water. This would allow the well to be brought online, and it would subsidize at least 15 percent of the daily water production. With the average production rate of 1.5 million gallons a day, this would relieve some stress on our existing water plant and our water system as a whole,” Velazquez said.
“Our goal – our ultimate goal since I’ve been here – is to find a well that is solely groundwater. That’s always been our goal. But what’s the difference? The difference is in order for it to be a public water system, you have to meet a certain criteria and state regulations, so those tests have to be done, and the one is, free from coliform (bacteria), free from E. coliform. For domestic use, there’s not such a worry, but in our case, where we’re supplying water to the constituents and the city of Del Rio, we have to meet those requirements,” he said.
“So one option, like I said, is to construct a small water treatment plant, skids, membrane, in order to subsidize at least 15 percent. And that’s the north side, and it’s the area that uses most of the water, especially during the summer.
“We have talked about, and we’ve met with some people here, for an emergency water well site. We talked about two water well sites, but the one that we’re interested in is the Agarita well. In the event of an emergency situation, where spring flows continue to decline, there is an option to temporarily bring this water well online to alleviate short-term water needs throughout the city,” he told the council.
“This emergency plan would require TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) approval and would include the installation of a temporary water treatment plant to filter and disinfect the well water before introduction into the city water distribution system. TCEQ would only authorize this as a temporary short-term solution in an emergency situation. That’s the key. It has to be an emergency situation. . . The city public works department has already begun the legwork on this emergency plan with TCEQ so we can better gauge the cost for this temporary water plant,” Velazquez said.
City council members asked a number of questions following Velazquez’s presentations, but took no formal action since the meeting was a workshop session. (See separate story.)
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
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