A $95,500 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) fine, looming over the city’s water system since last November, is going away. City Manager Chris Whittaker told The Reporter the city has reached an agreement with TCEQ to install six manholes along US 79 in lieu of the fi ne.
Whittaker said the work—known as the Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP)—will begin with a bid to be awarded at Monday’s city council meeting.
“It will be completed before the highway project starts in February,” he said.
FINE—“The TCEQ advised Rockdale in November, 2018, it was in violation for “failure to comply with effluent limitation for suspended solids ammonia nitrogen and e coli.
That violation became a topic of discussion at the Jan. 3 town hall at New Hope Baptist Church, the first of several which culminated in the city undertaking a multi-million-dollar water system replacement project to be funded by much higher water rates.
At that meeting Whittaker said Rockdale “needed to show them (TCEQ) we’re doing something” to avoid fines.
REPLACEMENT—Whittaker told The Reporter the city has already replaced a couple of manholes, not part of the TCEQ projects. Those have been in an alley behind the city library and on Meadow Drive.
In the alley project the manhole replaced was constructed of bricks. “That could have been up to a century old,” Whittaker said. “Leaks in those old manholes were contributors to the water system problems.
MORE—There are more projects on the way as the city gears up for the massive water system replacement project.
During the past week the Texas Department of Agriculture conducted a site visit for the upcoming Community Development Block Grant project which will replace 855 linear feet of water line from the Texas Street Water Plant to Belton Avenue.
“These 855 feet of asbestos concrete are being replaced with PVC pipe,” Whittaker said.
He said the city expects to sign a contract with the agriculture department in November.
The grant is for $275,000, with a city match of $55,000, according to Whittaker.
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