Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz gave the city’s first response Friday to the recent plans for the citizens group AGUAS! and the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid to sue the city for the state of its drinking water.
The organization stated that the notice was in response to the six boil water notices and discrepancies in addressing them for the south side of Laredo and the Highway 359 colonias.
The statement came during a funding proposal by Rep. Henry Cuellar for the Rio Grande International Study Center to remove invasive species from the river.
Saenz started by addressing the social media comments demanding to know more about the city’s water and boil water notices.
“We understand, and we’re here for you tambien. We are actively pursuing a remedy as you all know. I would ask of you all to view, to read the prior coverage that we had regarding the boil water notices and the proposed remedies that we have for that situation,” Saenz said.
“As our response, the city’s response: I as a mayor and the city council — I speak for city council as well on this issue — we take full responsibility, and we certainly want to do the best with the resources we have at the time. We have over 22 water projects currently underway that will take place within the next five years and millions of dollars will be invested to remedying the water situation in las colonias and throughout the entire city. We recognize that and we are addressing it.”
The 22 projects discussed would cost approximately $163,510,625 that will be funded through water tax revenue. The projects span from booster pump station repairs to repairing transmission lines, but as of April 21, two projects had already begun — the transmission system expansion for the Bartlett water tank and the 36-inch transmission line replacement at the Jefferson Water Treatment Plant to the Lyons Street Tank.
The Laredo water master plan encompasses proposed projects from 2022 all the way through 2070. Each project is split into three periods: the 2023-27 five-year period with 22 proposed projects, the 2028-32 five-year period with 24 proposed projects and the time beyond 2033. Each brings an estimated cost per period, with the first being $163,510,625, the second totaling $225,984,440 and the final and longest at $521,589,000.
As the final period is stated to be through to 2070 — a 37-year period — Mia said that over the next 50 years, the growing population would see an increase in revenue but also demand.
However, AGUAS! member and plaintiff Veronica Aleman said that the tax increase would disproportionately impact south Laredo and colonia residents who continue to struggle and anticipate more water issues.
“(The city) just wants to put their projects on the table and just do it the way they want without actually thinking about the better ways that can be set forth in order to help us,” Aleman said. “That’s why I personally think that if we had people that are caring and are thinking about how we can fix these issues in those positions, that figure would just be relatively a lot smaller.”
According to TRLA’s Kristen Adams, the 60-day letter of intent to sue is due to the city violating the Safe Drinking Water Act, and she hopes in those days that the city listens to the demands of AGUAS! to have the city provide safe drinking water on an equal basis to all Laredo consumers.
[ad_2]
Originally Appeared Here