City council members sent a couple of firms “back to the drawing board” Monday evening as they mull the possibility of replacing part of Rockdale’s water system with outside water.
But the intriguing, and hopeful, part of that situation is one of the bids.
EPCOR USA’s bid references water to be made available from an as-yet unnamed future tenant at Alcoa’s Rockdale Operations, something the area has been anticipating for months but about which no information has been released.
‘WOULDN’T BE HERE’—Nothing was formally released Monday evening either, but The Reporter questioned Michael Irlbeck, director of business development for EPCOR during the session.
Irlbeck said he could not give details, name the possible tenant, or even confirm any negotiations were underway for the aluminum company to sell or lease part of its “Sandow Lakes Ranch” property, the 32,000-acre site southwest of town.
The smelter has been leased to Bitmain, a cryptocurrency mining operation.
Alcoa has been permitted to capture 44,000 acre-feet of ground water per year and Sandow Lakes Ranch has been marketed as “the largest water rights opportunity in Texas.”
While Irlbeck could not comment directly on future plans, he did address the obvious fact of his appearing before the city council, in public session, attempting to sell water from the Alcoa site.
“I would not be here tonight if I did not think this was going to happen,” he told The Reporter.
Round Rock-based EPCOR owns and operates water, and wastewater infrastructure in the United States and Canada.
Bernard Uechtritz of Icon Global Group, broker for Sandow Lakes, also would not elaborate on sale or lease plans but told The Reporter:
“I am extremely pleased with the direction , momentum and definitive progress of any and all aspects of the project, including but not limited to the enormous interest in it and our representation of it.”
APPLES—Matthew Garrett of New Gen Strategies and Solutions had been tasked with preparing a study comparing costs to the city if Rockdale proceeds with its water system overhaul versus purchasing water from either EPCOR or Blue Water, both of which submitted proposals.
Garrett noted the difficulty to the complex task, pointing out information on which he was working did not lend itself to “apples to apples” comparisons.
“I can’t compare like items to like items, but this is what I’ve got,” Garrett said.
During the lengthy, and complex, discussion, Mayor John King compared the estimates to a “Ouija board.”
Garrett’s recommendation was for the city to stay with its current plans and remain with its own well and treatment plant.
He estimated annual cost to the city as $845,624 for Rockdale to continue to provide its own water, $1,212,234 if it accepted Blue Water’s bid, $1,527,489 if it accepts EPCOR’s.
Both companies had representatives at the meeting and immediately countered Garrett’s assertions on several points.
REJECTED—Key factors in the discussion on purchasing outside water included who owns what, when ownership would change and who pays for what components.
Blue Water representatives said their water comes
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