SAN BENITO — After 10 years, the city is working to complete one of its biggest project in decades — a multi-million-dollar sewer system overhaul closing in on a March deadline.
At the tail end of a long work list, city commissioners have agreed to fund projects to build a $2.9 million surge tank at the city’s service center and a $1.2 million sewer lift station in the Landrum area.
About four years ago, commissioners borrowed $9 million through the sale of certificates of obligation to fund the overall project by March or face hefty fines and corrective action.
“This surge tank project is one that was identified by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality along with others as needing to be upgraded to meet environmental standards,” city spokesman David Favila stated Wednesday, referring to the tank used to store sewage before its transfer to the sewer plant.
“The construction will call for the installment of a larger underground surge tank to handle the volume coming in from the various lift stations that feed into it,” he stated.
Clock ticking
Officials expect to overhaul the Landrum lift station within 180 days, Mayor Rick Guerra said.
However, the coronavirus pandemic’s supply chain crisis has led to a storage of materials that could slow down the project to build the surge tank, he said.
“We’re going to try to meet the deadline,” Guerra said. “There’s a lack of materials. Everybody’s having trouble. There’s a three- to six-month wait.”
Officials are counting on the state to grant a waiver if they fall short of the deadline, he said.
“The city’s made some pretty big strides and I hope TCEQ will recognize that and give us more time if need be,” Commissioner Pete Galvan said.
Background
In 2009 and 2010, a series of sewage spills led the state to cite the city for discharging a total of 49,000 gallons near the banks of the Arroyo Colorado.
By 2011, officials were borrowing $7 million through the sale of certificates of obligation to replace clay sewer pipes laid in the 1930s and 1940s along with old manholes.
A year later, the city was entering into an agreement with TCEQ to participate in its Sanitary Sewer Overflow Initiative program aimed at upgrading its sewer system while avoiding penalties stemming from the spills.
Under the agreement, the city agreed to meet the project’s March 2023 deadline or face severe fines, penalties and corrective action.
After City Manager Manuel De La Rosa took office in 2016, officials planned to upgrade six sewer lift stations within a system made up of 40 lift stations, 465,000 feet of sewer lines and 1,300 manholes.
Now, the surge tank and Landrum lift station are the city’s last project’s on the state’s list.
