The City of Early is getting new water, well trying to.
They began work on a project to take treated water from Brown County Water Improvement District, but to get that water, they have to lay pipeline from Brown County's Plant to Early, which has so far been the hardest part.
"You can run into some complications from time to time which we did," said City Administrator, Ken Thomas.
It's taken over two years just to get the approval from 24 property owners to lay pipe across their property.
The city had hoped it wouldn't take that long.
Early resident and land owner, Lindsey Pruitt and her husband owns property that the city had to acquire land from.
They saw no problem with it. In fact their property will be the site for the 2 million gallon storage container for water.
"We didn't have any problem with that either," said Pruitt.
All but two land owners were fairly cooperative.
After one lengthy negotiation for, what eventually came down to money, and another even going to a hearing, the city got the land.
But it won't be until at least August or even September before they move any dirt.
"It has run somewhat longer than what we expected," explained Thomas.
It will likely be worth the wait though. The TCEQ urged the city to take treated water from Brown County to move away from their current system that's well run its course for over 20 years. For a small town like Early, having something like this helped them along the way.
"That's basically what Early has gotten their independence from over the years," said Thomas.
Now it's time to move on though.
Pruitt said she will expect the water to taste better, but she'll still have to wait. Thomas said it could be a five year total project, but one major benefit will be efficiency.
Thomas said, "That will cause the price to go down somewhat."
Which is good news for anyone, you'll just have to wait till 2015.
The city plans to meet with engineers on February first to hopefully finalize plans to move forward.
They began work on a project to take treated water from Brown County Water Improvement District, but to get that water, they have to lay pipeline from Brown County's Plant to Early, which has so far been the hardest part.
"You can run into some complications from time to time which we did," said City Administrator, Ken Thomas.
It's taken over two years just to get the approval from 24 property owners to lay pipe across their property.
The city had hoped it wouldn't take that long.
Early resident and land owner, Lindsey Pruitt and her husband owns property that the city had to acquire land from.
They saw no problem with it. In fact their property will be the site for the 2 million gallon storage container for water.
"We didn't have any problem with that either," said Pruitt.
All but two land owners were fairly cooperative.
After one lengthy negotiation for, what eventually came down to money, and another even going to a hearing, the city got the land.
But it won't be until at least August or even September before they move any dirt.
"It has run somewhat longer than what we expected," explained Thomas.
It will likely be worth the wait though. The TCEQ urged the city to take treated water from Brown County to move away from their current system that's well run its course for over 20 years. For a small town like Early, having something like this helped them along the way.
"That's basically what Early has gotten their independence from over the years," said Thomas.
Now it's time to move on though.
Pruitt said she will expect the water to taste better, but she'll still have to wait. Thomas said it could be a five year total project, but one major benefit will be efficiency.
Thomas said, "That will cause the price to go down somewhat."
Which is good news for anyone, you'll just have to wait till 2015.
The city plans to meet with engineers on February first to hopefully finalize plans to move forward.
Comments
Well, I can see that their is no moderators :-/ Actually, this article is perfect for any local Civics teacher. Immanent Domain Laws; a very touchy subject anywhere, is the top factor. The subject as to why public works projects take up to five times longer to complete than private municipal projects, (Federal highway construction compared to toll roads,) Lots of civic goodies here! Too bad we don't teach "Good Citizenship" in our schools anymore. :-(
Robert R.
January 22, 2012 at 3:38 pm
I JUST SHAT MYSELF THIS ARTICLE IS SO BORING
Anonymous A.
January 21, 2012 at 11:48 am
