SAN BENITO — The city will work to reopen the $17 million water plant that has been the focus of a lawsuit settlement.
Today, engineers are expected to update city commissioners on the city’s project to renovate the 90-year-old plant that has served as its primary water source since 2014.
In a closed-session meeting, commissioners are also expected to meet with attorneys to discuss the settlement of claims stemming from the city’s lawsuit against companies behind the construction of the water plant that opened in 2009 but was closed in 2014.
Last month, the city announced the lawsuit against Siemens Corp. and other companies had been settled.
Details, however, have been not been disclosed in the lawsuit arguing the water plant did not properly operate.
The city is expected to use money from the settlement to help fund a project to reopen the newer water plant shut down in 2014, Commissioner Esteban Rodriguez said yesterday.
But Rodriguez, who said he could not disclose any settlement details including the amount of money the city received, said it might take as long as three to four years to reopen the plant.
“It needs work,” Rodriguez said about the 2009 plant. “There’s a lot to be done.”
Rodriguez said he did not have an estimate on the cost to reopen the plant.
“The water plant’s been sitting there for years,” he said. “I know our citizens have been patient. I know they want this problem behind us but we have to take some steps. Time is going to be our enemy for a while.”
Meanwhile, the city will continue to renovate the old water plant that has served as the primary source of water since 2014.
“We have to. There’s no way around it. We have to keep the plant in good working condition,” Rodriguez said. “We have to give our citizens good quality drinking water.”
City Manager Manuel De La Rosa described it as “an aging plant that requires maintenance and care.”
In the meeting, commissioners are expected to discuss the installation of pumps and piping along with expenses incurred as part of the project to upgrade the old plant.
“The plant is an asset to the city and will continue to operate for an indeterminate period of time, thus the need for continued maintenance,” city spokeswoman Martha McClain stated.
In 2014, commissioners decided to shut down the new water plant, filing the lawsuit arguing the plant had never property operated.
Meanwhile, commissioners launched a $3 million project to renovate the water plant built in 1927.
City officials shut down the new plant after its membrane filtration system failed to properly operate.
At the time, Orlando Cruz, the city’s longtime city engineer, said he recommended replacement of the plant’s membranes to continue operating the plant, warning the old plant could fail.
Cruz estimated it would cost $1 million to make the plant operational.
In September 2016 and last January, the old plant temporarily shut down, cutting water service across town.
As part of an agreement, Harlingen provided the city with water used to serve homes and businesses for that brief period of time.
