For the first time in about 70 years someone is actually doing some long-term work on Rockdale’s obsolete water and sewer systems.
If you’ve noticed some guys walking around town in headphone getups that look like your Uncle George looking for pirate treasure on Padre Island, they are working for SAMCO Leak Detection of Austin.
They’ve been dispatched by the City of Rockdale to identify leaks, of which there are plenty.
Former City Manager Chris Whittaker said between 30 and 40 percent of water flowing through Rockdale pipes is lost due to leaks. After the first week of leak sleuthing, the SAMCO folks told The Reporter they’ve found nothing to dispute that statement.
It’s going to be a massive project. Since, obviously, water will be flowing through the system while months and years are passing by, the first job will be fixing the worst leaks. And fixing the worst leaks starts with finding them.
That’s where SAMCO comes in. At the end of their first full week in Rockdale they’ve already discovered about a dozen leaks. There’s much more of Rockdale yet to be scrutinized.
For literally decades, the No. 1 concern Rockdale residents identified whenever they were given the chance was the town’s legendary red water.
In fact, red water took on a life of its own. “Why don’t you do something about the red water?” was frequently heard at city council meetings. After some time, it was heard so often that “red water” began to mask the actual situation.
Red water is not like COVID-19, spreading in curious and mysterious ways. It was an effect of the real problem—Rockdale’s aging and antiquated water system.
To put it a bit more bluntly, since about the end of World War II, instead of dealing with the problems associated with aging and corroded pipes— even then some of those pipes were approaching a half-century old—Rockdale just kicked the can a little farther down the road.
Until the can became so old and corroded it sprung leaks and didn’t hold water very well any more.
Now, with great sacrifice by city rate payers, those decades of inaction are coming to an end. It won’t be a quick fix and there are bound to be some changes in course over the upcoming years.
But now, finally, the answer to the question “when are we going to do something” is “just look down your street.”
It is, indeed, starting.—M.B.
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