Blanco water infrastructure to see revamps after city, water supplier reach 25-year operation agreement
BLANCO, Texas (KXAN) -- The City of Blanco will see some much-needed revamps of its water infrastructure through a new operating agreement with the Texas Water Company (TWC).
The city announced Friday it reached a new agreement with the water supplier, relating to upgrades of their shared pipeline system.
The announcement said the 25-year agreement secures the infrastructure needed to deliver up to 540,000 gallons per day to the city, which the city said is a vital resource.
In addition to the renegotiated agreement, the city announced what the mayor called "major milestones" related to water supply and delivery:
- Completion of the City’s Water Treatment Plant renovation including upgraded treatment capability (1–2-year project that stretched more than 5 years).
- Improved water usage accountability through new electronic water meters which are read electronically/automatically and help detect leaks. A new cloud-based portal allows customers to check their water usage real time and pay bills online.
- Secured funding to replace several of the City’s most outdated or in-need water lines through the Texas Water Development. This will further reduce water loss and lower ongoing maintenance and repair expense.
According to the announcement, those upgrades allow for the delivery of 1200 acre-feet per year of clean water on demand. City water customers currently use only 28% of that amount annually, per the announcement.
City of Blanco Mayor Mike Arnold said in the announcement that the city's water supply is "more plentiful and secure than it's been since the founding of our town." He also noted that the city is continuing to "aggressively explore avenues to secure additional water sources and infrastructure upgrades."
The city has faced water supply issues in the past and has previously been at odds with TWC over some of those issues, leading to the city requesting formal mediation between it and TWC with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and demanding that TWC keep at least 500,000 gallons of water in the tank that supplies Blanco.
History of water issues
In 2019, the city's water treatment plant went offline to undergo renovations, prompting the city to rely on TWC as its main source of water. The city announced Friday that the project was complete and the water plant is now back online, and Arnold said city leaders hope to switch back to the plant as its main source of water within the next few months.
In July 2023, the city issued an emergency notice on its website about heightened water conservation efforts and went into stage six water restrictions. Arnold at the time attributed the tightened restrictions to maintenance issues the city’s water supplier was facing. Arnold at one point said the city had 24 hours of water left when it entered those restrictions.
In January of this year, the city issued a boil water notice after a main line broke and caused an outage. The city had to shut off water service city-wide for a period of time due to the leak.
City officials said freezing temperatures and aging pipes were the root of the leak, and Arnold said crews deal with leaks in the system all the time. The city said it was working on a plan to replace the aging infrastructure, but that it would take time.
“It is going to be a 20 to 25-year plan, but it requires a lot of leg work, mapping it out and seeing where the issues are,” Arnold told KXAN in January.
In the announcement released by Blanco Friday, Arnold said in a statement, "We appreciate TWC’s partnership to help ensure the reliability of our water delivery system. As people come to Blanco to enjoy our town’s unique amenities and participate in our strong sense of community, they can rest assured that we are always working to secure and maintain the water they need for their families and businesses for generations to come.
TWC President Aundrea Williams issued the following statement within the announcement:
We applaud the City of Blanco for their constructive collaboration in this process, and we hope
Aundrea Williams, President of Texas Water Company
our work brings the City’s residents peace of mind when it comes to helping deliver their water
supply. We are committed to helping the City and appreciate the opportunity to be part of the solution for this great community.
The city noted in the announcement that it remains subject to regional drought restrictions and encouraged citizens to always conserve water.