By DINA ARÉVALO
Port Isabel-South Padre Press
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
After a proposed $16.4 million bond election failed to pass with voters last month, the Laguna Madre Water District (LMWD) has been forced to take a hard look at how it will approach several projects it deemed as important to complete. To that end, the Board of Directors held a workshop with LMWD department heads Wednesday to prioritize the improvement projects and discuss potential avenues of funding.
Of chief concern for the directors were assessing which projects were critical to undertake due to state compliance concerns and which would offer the best return on investment.
District Engineer Charles Ortiz explained he prioritized the list of seven projects according to the same prioritization list the district used during the bond election. His top concern were methane monitors at the monofill station. That project is required in order to meet compliance standards from the state’s governing body, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), he said.
Also of high priority is a proposed project at Wastewater Treatment Plant No. 2 to install new sludge drying basins and a backwash waste pump station. “We’ve made several attempts over 10-20 years to try to clean it,” Ortiz said of the current sludge drying basin.
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