Increased Demand,Llegislation and the Cost to Keep Up
As this is written gasoline is $3.28 per gallon, milk $4.50 per gallon,
and the average power bill runs $250.00 to $400.00 per month. You can even
spend a dollar on an 8 ounce bottle of water. So it will come as no surprise
that the cost of the water flowing out of your faucet is increasing. By the
end of this year, WOWSC customers will be paying $0.011 per
gallon--that’s 1.1cents per gallon.(By the way, that 8 oz bottle of water
comes to $4.00 a gallon.) A statement I heard recently from a customer was,
“water is free no one makes it”. That’s true, the problem is not what water
costs, but what it costs to get it, clean it, and deliver it to our houses.
With demand increasing and legislation continuing to place stricter compliance
rules on all WSC’s we have to make decisions that take us well placed into
the future.
With that said, after years of hard work by the Board of Directors, WOWSC
can finally announce that well # 6 will soon be a reality for Woodrow-Osceola
Water Supply Corp. With a price tag of over 1.3 million dollars, the project
will start taking shape within the next year. Our engineers, “Childress”
out of Cleburne are just about ready to present the final plans to the Board
for approval and on to TCEQ for their blessing. The entire project will be
funded by the USDA with a pay out over 40 years. I can already hear the questions,
“why do we need to do this” “What’s the cost going to be?” Well, the simple
answer is because we have to!! We have to stay compliant with TCEQ rules
on how much water we have available for the number of connections (customers)
we have on the system. Also, Hill County is growing and we have to have future
demands in mind now. The cost? It will raise the basic minimum water bill
to about $34.50 a month, which by the way, still puts the minimum water bill
at less than a lot of people are paying right now for water. The new well
will be the first step in a long range plan to keep a stable water supply
available to rural Hill County. At the moment, Hill County is not part of
a “Ground Water Conservation District” and that may leave us open to a legislative
take over by TCEQ and everyone knows how that would be funded. If you have
access to a computer, I recommend that you take a look at the TCEQ PGMA report
on their website.
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/permitting/watersupply/groundwater/pgma/2007_centex_pgma_report_final.pdf.
Everyone, I’m sure, has seen the rapid increase in gas and oil drilling rigs
in Hill County and that comes at a price. With millions of gallons of water
being pumped for drilling operations the water that is being used comes directly
out of the aquifers that our wells are also pumping from, and although TCEQ
will levy fines and punishments on WSC’s for noncompliance of their rules,
they have no control over anything the oil and gas industry wants to do to
when it comes to drilling water wells. The Railroad Commission is the authority
that issues permits for drilling by the oil and gas industry and, so far,
I have found that there is very little concern for water conservation at
the Railroad Commission. The forming of a locally controlled GWCD is an important
step in keeping local control of the ground water in Hill County.
WOWSC will also have to find a second supply of water for backup purposes.
In the mind of the authorities concerned, that means surface water. The search
for a partner to supply surface water will not be easy. The stated position
of Aquilla locally is that they have no extra to sell, Cleburne is desperately
trying to buy from anyone who will sell water. So that leaves Lake Whitney.
In order to use water from that lake, a desalination plant is required and
that means very expensive water. So is the future of water supplies bleak?
No, if we make good decisions and plan ahead now there is a lot we can do.
Support your local water company in the decisions they have to make and remember,
we all must be concerned and involved so that a gallon water will never cost
the same as a gallon of gas………
Malcolm Tucker
General Manager WOWSC.