Hope on horizon for dry Derby
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“Financial issues entangled with troubled water system…”
Access points to the city of Cotulla’s sewer lines through manhole covers and at lift stations where the waste is raised to flow further downhill to the city’s treatment plant show large quantities of non-soluble waste clogging pumps and lines, including wipes, towels, plastics, food wrappers, syringes, hygiene products and other items that have to be extracted by hand before they damage the equipment.
Relief may be in sight for the residents of a small Frio County community whose water lines have been dry for nearly two months.
Less than a week after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a demand letter to the owner and operator of the Derby water system, residents in the township could have running water by Thursday.
Chris Martin of New Water Enterprises has taken over what he described as “financial issues entangled with the troubled water system.”
According to Martin, the Houston-based company delivered the necessary pipe to Derby on Tuesday and work was slated to begin on Wednesday.
Martin said his company donated the pipe needed for the project.
On Wednesday, workers plan to repair the pump that has been inoperable since Friday, August 6.
“What that means for the system is that we are going to have to do a back sample,” Martin said.
Contingent on the result of the Wednesday water sample provided by the well, households in Derby could expect to have running water by Thursday afternoon.
Martin confirmed that once operable, the water well would undergo weekly inspections by the company.
“Should there be an emergency, leak or any problem, someone will be on site within twenty-four hours and that person is a licensed water operator,” the New Water Enterprises representative said.
Martin encourages anyone with questions or concerns to call the company office, (283) 870-3781.
Derby has one public water well system in the small roadside community that serves over 70 households. The system, which is owned by Dario Guerra, has been cited for numerous violations from TCEQ and the Texas Water Development Board since 2012. Guerra was awarded $394,000 in loan forgiveness from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, but records filed at state agencies show Guerra never completed work on the water system.
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