Straight talk

EDITORIAL

Last week saw the strongest language ever used by anyone in a position to speak officially about Rockdale’s water system.

City Manager Chris Whittaker told a large group of city council visitors that the system is “failing.” He pointed out in a little less than four years there have been 1,226 line breaks and 46 breaks in water mains (those big primary lines which feed all the others).

Then there’s red water. People began making jokes about Rockdale’s red water in the 1950s. Nobody is making jokes anymore.

Everyone in the council room already knew that “failing” is an accurate description of the situation. Now, assuming everyone is actually on the same page about fixing the problem and not just talking about it, a couple of questions need to answered.

• How did it get that way?

• What can be done about it?

The first one is easy. We have arrived at a failing water system because for at least a half century, probably more, the system has not been adequately upgraded.

There are a lot of reasons for that but, in the more recent decades, dedicated city administrations and councils have diligently tried to keep up but found it was difficult to do what needed to be done if they obeyed the one implicitly understood perpetual command from much of the public:

“Give me good services, but don’t raise my taxes or my water rates.”

The second question is, of course, the big one.

It’s always been known the way to “unred” the water is to replace virtually all the lines in the system. The Reporter has run numerous photos of the inside of pipes which more resemble “this is what my arteries looked like before the heart attack” than water lines.

But, as Whittaker pointed out, the problem is more than red water. If you replace every foot of pipe and then fill it with inadequately treated water—or construct a new treatment facility and run pristine water through pipes that look like the Romans built them—you haven’t addressed the problem.

Five years ago the city estimated it would take $25-million, and a huge increase in water rates, to fix the problem.

In 2018, the city is seeking just over $45 million from the Texas Water Development Board to do the same thing. But there’s a possibility looming.

That board has communicated there is “money available,” because Rockdale has scored well on its application. (Thanks, KSA Engineers, for great work on that request).

And here’s the really exciting part. The board says Rockdale “has also been identified to receive principal forgiveness reserved for Disadvantaged Communities.”

That means loans, or at least part of them, could turn into what amounts to grants. Of course, it won’t be free. It will be up to the administrati0n and council to weigh gain vs. pain and that’s a thankless job.

But it’s on the table. The bottom line: There’s a long way to go, of course, but the beginnings of a plan are starting to emerge.

Dare we hope? Let’s see what happens.—M.B.