HARLINGEN — City commissioners are downscaling the WaterWorks System’s proposed $10 million sewer project, tapping into the city’s $21 million federal stimulus check.
Last year, the past commission planned to fund the agency’s $10 million sewer system project with about $10 million from the city’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act.
Earlier this week, commissioners cut the project’s funding to $7.7 million, General Manager Tim Skoglund said Thursday.
Now, officials are planning to dip into the balance of about $3 million to help fund other projects, Assistant City Manager Craig Cook said.
WaterWorks project
During a meeting Wednesday, Skoglund proposed using about $6.5 million to replace 16,580 feet of old clay sewer pipes, or about three miles’ worth, along 17 project sites across the city, with PVC pipe.
In a PowerPoint presentation, he described the old clay pipe as being in “extremely poor condition,” with “severe cracking” and “root intrusion” along exposed soil.
“These are areas of frequent trouble, responding to clogged pipe and back-up conditions,” he said during an interview. “It’s broken over the years — soil movement can do that. It gets brittle over time.”
Meanwhile, Skoglund is planning to use the remaining $1 million to help fund manhole renovations while replacing old customer water meters.
“The ARPA funds help us maintain our fund balance so we can operate efficiently and keep rates the same,” he said. “We have maintained a healthy fund balance.”
This year, he said, the agency’s $21.6 million budget includes a $13.7 million fund balance while officials are planning no water rate hikes.
Original project
Last year, Skoglund proposed using WaterWorks’ original $10 million cut of the city’s stimulus check to fund the $6.5 million pipe replacement project along with a $1.7 million project aimed at replacing old water meters and a $1.16 million project to renovate manholes.
As part of the project, he was planning to replace 42 meter vaults described as being in “aging, deteriorated condition” with “substandard configuration,” according to his PowerPoint presentation.
Meanwhile, the project called for the installation of “high-accuracy, electronic meters.”
In his presentation, Skoglund described the renovation of manholes whose interiors have become “heavily corroded manhole barrels” which have lost their “structural integrity” while opening themselves to “infiltration.”
$177 million five-year plan
The project is part of a proposed $177 million five-year plan largely aimed at funding sewer upgrades.
”It’s all depending on the future,” Skoglund said, referring to funding sources. “We’ll only be able to do what we can with the funds we’ll have. The ARPA funds help.”
In August, Skoglund told commissioners he was counting on landing low-interest loans through the Texas Water Development Board.
Meanwhile, he said the agency was considering raising what he described as some of the Rio Grande Valley’s lowest water rates to help generate revenue.
City projects
During Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners discussed dipping into the $3 million balance, planning to use $1.3 million to build a detention pond as part of a project aimed at removing 29 houses from a floodplain in the area of Wichita, Basin, West Memphis, Beaumont and Atlanta, Cook stated.
Meanwhile, officials are planning to use the remainder of the balance to build a pedestrian bridge at the Tony Butler Golf Course along with a road at the city’s emergency operations center off FM 509, he stated.
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