Saturday, December 21, 2024

City of Crockett to spend more than $15 million on water infrastructure

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CROCKETT, Texas (KTRE) – As the new year approaches, the City of Crockett plans to make much-needed improvements to its water infrastructure.

The city will spend more than $15 million on the water system. The Texas Water Development Board awarded the city a grant for $8.3 million. The rest of the money is from a $7.1 million loan the city approved early this week. The city’s Superintendent of Utilities Rick Gilson said funds will be used to update 40-year-old systems at the wastewater treatment plant.

“We’re going to see processes that we haven’t seen in many years. It’s going to be awesome to see the new stuff,” said Gilson.

City Administrator John Angerstein said funds will also be used to construct a new water well as a backup water source.

“People move in. We’re also wanting to attract additional industry, and we don’t want to be close to that threshold, especially when our system is taking on rainwater,” he explained.

Old sewer lines are expected to be replaced. Angerstein said the aging infrastructure has caused many issues.

“We deal with water main breaks, with sewer line collapse pretty regularly. As it ages, we end up spending most of our time in maintenance and repair,” said Angerstein.

The city is looking ahead into the future, too. According to Angerstein, $100,000 will be used for an assessment management plan to assess the age and conditions of pumps and tanks.

“We will be able to start preparing now with realistic revenues and monies that are being set aside to replace those items to where we don’t have to go into debt later when those items need to be replaced,” he said.

Engineers will be working on the designing and planning phase next year. They hope to begin the two-year construction project in 2026.

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