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| Today’s $360 Million Agenda At City Hall By: James Clark Hey! What the heck is all the money for? It’s mostly to water the grass. And, yes, you’re gonna pay it. This morning city leaders move quickly if not a little frantically on the largest single public project in Lubbock’s history. Why? Because Lubbock’s water crisis gets worse by the day. $230 Million Is Just The 1st Payment Lake Meredith hit a new record low yesterday and it will hit a new record low again today. That lake is the main water supply for 11 West Texas cities including Lubbock. This morning city leaders gather in a water advisory committee meeting. Front & center on the agenda is fast-tracking the engineering reports for a pipeline to Lake Alan Henry. “We’re looking at, at least, a $230 million project. That is probably by far the largest infrastructure project the city of Lubbock, dollar-wise, has ever engaged in,” says Assistant Water Utilities Director Aubrey Spear. $230 Million is just the down payment. This gets way more expensive in just a few years. And how much will this down payment cost you? It will easily cost the average water customer $230 or more every year in terms of higher water bills. Whoah! What Do You Mean? Speaer says, “Actually lake Meredith and Roberts County could supply our basic needs.” Whoah! What do you mean Lake Meredith and the water wells in Roberts County could supply our basic needs? Why are we fast tracking hundreds of millions of dollars of water projects? Well here’s why. The day before yesterday every man, woman and child in Lubbock Texas used more than 170 gallons of water; 170 gallons per person in just one day. Where is water going? 80% of it is used to water grass in people’s yards. Spear says, “Obviously any time we have to spend additional money it eventually is going to be reflected in the rates, the user rates.” And the $230 million Lake Alan Henry project is just the beginning. Two other big ticket items come up on the agenda. Lake Meredith is at 51 feet of depth, according to the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority. That’s only 10% of lake capacity by volume. The temporary solution is to pump more and more well water from Roberts County. Another Expensive Pipeline But there’s a problem. We’re using so much water that the 54-inch Roberts County pipeline is not big enough. Picture this: 54 inches is 4-and-a-half feet tall and 4-and-a-half feet wide. On the agenda this morning is a brand new 36-inch pipeline in addition to the current pipeline. Spear says, “If we make that recommendation then all the other member cities in CRMWA will need to make a decision on whether they’ll participate in the larger line size. And then if others do not participate Lubbock needs to decide if it’s important enough to pitch in the additional funds.” Oh But Wait There’s More If a pipeline costs $2 million per mile then that’s another $60 million. Oh but wait there’s more. Also on the agenda is a water treatment plant capable of recycling our wastewater. It could generate 9 million gallons a day or more that can be discharged into Canyon Lake 7 or the Post Reservoir. That water can be recycled. Cost: $70 million or more. An update on the bids for that project is also on the agenda this morning. Oh, $70 million is just the cost of the recycling plant. We haven’t even discussed how much it would cost build Canyon Lake 7 or the Post Reservoir. Story Posted: Thu Nov 15 06:30:00 CST 2007 Created: Thu Nov 15 06:20:55 CST 2007 BACK TO HOME/NEWS Top Story • Lubbock tax bill going up Lubbock News & Lbk County • Tech fans face parking challenges • Seat belts required in school buses • Apartment fire injures one Weather • Thursday Forecast Business • AM Business Notebook Around Texas • Cornyn Comments On Obama's Iraq War Remarks • Fire Warning For Hunters As Dove Season Kicks Off • Boy Dies Of Rare Infection From Water • Austin Headlines • Dallas Headlines • Houston Headlines • San Antonio Headlines Swap Shop • Swap Shop Update This Day In History • Today Marks Formal End Of World War Two • Today In History Birthdays • Today's Birthdays Entertainment • Tonight's TV Off Beat News Of The Day • Middle School Student Arrested Over Facebook Threats Health Beat • New North American Lutheran Church Launched • New Study Doesn't Bode Well For Abbott Diet Drug Religion Today • New North American Lutheran Church Launched • Al-Qaeda Leader Calls For Killing Christians Sports • Sports Shorts |
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