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Laredo City Councilmember Ruben Gutierrez Jr., Mayor Pete Saenz and Councilmember Alberto Torres Jr. listen as Utilities Director Arturo Garcia, Assistant Utilities Director Michael Rodgers and TCEQ representatives detail the water treatment plant processes and distribution limits, Monday, July 12, 2021, during a special city council meeting at City Hall.

Screenshots of City Water System Workshop, held Wednesday, March 9, 2022.

Screenshots of City Water System Workshop, held Wednesday, March 9, 2022.

Laredo City Council held the first of multiple workshops on Wednesday that will focus on the area's ongoing water issues and its branching impacts on both the city infrastructure, staff and residents. With the recent water line break not far in the rearview mirror, a myriad of issues is still looming for city leadership. 

For context, the estimated hour-long workshop lasted over two hours and was a starting point for concerned residents to get an overview on the water system and the overall state of it, city manager Samuel Keith Selman said. The Wednesday workshop was scheduled to focus on the Frost Street line incident and result in action toward addressing it.

After all was said and done, the city motioned and approved multiple actions on Wednesday, including the use of whatever it takes and approximately $34-35 million to address the Frost 36-inch line without an extra tax increase, an audit to verify the license and certifications are up to date of utilities employees, and to investigate the turnover of the department.

Additionally, all meetings regarding the water workshop were motioned to be held at 5:30 p.m. in order to allow residents to attend without risk of missing work. The noon meeting was said to be preposterous and a could be misconstrued as an attempt to hide issues from the public. 

In regards to the current issues, Utilities Director Arturo Garcia explained that a leak in the Frost Street water main line on Feb. 18 devolved into the longstanding boil water notice and left approximately 60% of Laredo residents without water. 

But when one line resulted in a catastrophic failure, questions were asked.

“I know we built this system with the ability to isolate and have redundancy in the system, how can one line -- and I know it’s a major line -- but how can one line empty out two or three tanks and result in two-thirds of our city not having water or at least having low pressure?” Councilmember Dr. Marte Martinez asked.

The 50- to 60-year-old line was what was originally believed to be the only issue, but Garcia explained that prior to starting maintenance on the line, another problem arose. Crew members encountered faulty valves and a gearbox that were needed to be addressed before working on the line. 

“The system failed,” Garcia said. "Some of these valves are aged, they broke, the pressure system -- I would have to get the mechanism and look at them to see what happened to the systems."

The uncertainty prompted questions by councilmembers, including Martinez, of how often valves are checked and when was the last time the impacted valve was checked. Garcia was unable to answer and said that there is a log and crews do monitor, but the overall number of valves resulted in the Frost line valve not being checked.

And when Mayor Pete Saenz asked if the bypasses did anything to prevent the recent issue that February night, Garcia explained that the bypasses also did not work. 

This was compounded by the fact that the 36-inch line was inserted over 50 years ago and was not wrapped with a protective polyethylene wrap that prevented corrosion. Garcia only said the problem started 50 years ago, but as of Wednesday meeting, the utilities department is unaware of what other lines are without the wrap.

When asked by councilmember Vanessa Perez if the department has investigated which other lines may also be missing the protective wrap after the issue was addressed, Garcia said that he would instruct his staff to look for the information starting on Wednesday.

After sharing her concerns about contaminants of a rusty pipe falling into the filtered water, Garcia explained that the strong pressure of the water flow keeps contaminants from falling into the water flow and the water is monitored.

This didn’t fully address her concerns as Perez indicated that there are residents in District VIII who still deal with dirty water coming from their faucets. 

Councilmembers continued to question the supposed checks and balance system in place at the Utilities Department and wondered if the recent incident could have been avoided. Similar questions arose in 2021, when councilmembers asked why the nitrification action plan was not set in place prior to the that boil water notice.

Selman said that an investigation is being planned on identifying the department’s checks and balances, but councilmember Vidal Rodriguez instructed the internal auditor to ensure that Wednesday’s questions are kept and brought back in upcoming meetings.

Garcia explained that there are two crews in charge of checking the valves but acknowledged that throughout the general utilities department, there are approximately 50-60 job vacancies. He added that the vacancies are a result of turnover due to the low pay, that prompted questions of competitive wages to hire qualified personnel in the future.

Regardless of the discussed issues, the estimated $500 million to replace and improve the city water system is still a hard pill to swallow. As the city already applied for 13 water projects to the American Rescue Plan, the final cost is still fluid. This doesn’t change the fact that approximately one-third of the water system is beyond 50 years old.

In light of this news, Saenz reiterated that the public may need to prepare for possible water line breaks and recommended purchasing of water tanks to save water, to the chagrin of councilmember Alberto Torres. 

The notion of purchasing water tanks does not inspire confidence in the current water system or trust in the city officials and water quality.

Ultimately, both members of council and of the public believe that a thorough review of the Utilities Department and its staff, alongside the water system, should take place before throwing money at the problem.