Water company looking to sell water to Odessa

Source: Odessa American, TexasAug.迷你倉 25--John Littlejohn said he wants to give hundreds of thousands of potable water to Odessa and other West Texas cities.Before he can do that though, the president of the Val Verde Water Company said he must first get approval from Colorado River Municipal Water District, something he claims is almost impossible.In turn, the district said Littlejohn and his company are trying to get around the rules that involve proposals, tests and presentations; which other city officials have stated they knew little to nothing about Littlejohn's company.On Aug. 6, Littlejohn said he made a presentation to the City of San Angelo during their council meeting about building a pipeline that would transport about 15,000 acre-feet of water from the Lake Amistad Reservoir near Del Rio to the West Texas city.An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons of water.Once the pipeline gets to San Angelo, Littlejohn said the next step would be to work with CRMWD in securing use of their pipes and transporting water to the district's member cities, like Odessa, Snyder and Big Spring. Other cities, like Midland, would also be able to purchase water, Littlejohn said.Littlejohn estimated he would be able to bring in about 60,000 acre-feet of water annually into Odessa alone."We know that it's going to cost in the neighborhood of ... about $4 per 1,000 gallons of water," Littlejohn said about the cost after transportation. "The hurdle is; CRMWD is reluctant to let anyone enter the (water) service."General Manager for CRMWD John Grant said that isn't the case, since the district officially opened up request for bids in July."They came to us (before the request for proposal was sent by CRMWD) and our board wanted time to look at it (their proposal) along with others," Grant said, adding they've seen about 12 to 15 proposals in the past two years. "They took the approach they didn't want to wait ... and went to the cities, after that."At a time West Texas is still experiencing one of the worst droughts in state history, the quest for more water to support West Texas' expansion due to the oil boom continues as the lakes that supply CRMWD's member cities continue to drop.As of Wednesday, the major water source O.H. Ivie Reservoir was reported as 17 percent full with 95,749 acre-feet. The lowest level was reported at Lake J.B. Thomas, which was full at 2 percent with 4,367 acre-feet. However, Grant said Thomas had enough water to pump out for Snyder."We've been able to meet the demand for surface water, even though we've lifted our restrictions last December," Grant said. "But a good hurricane or hard rain would help."Grant said his claims that Littlejohn met with CRMWD's member cities outside of a formal proposal were confirmed by a letter that was sent March 10 to officials of CRMWD's member cities -- Odessa, Bing Spring and Snyder -- offering a three-part proposal to the cities and offering to "acquire all the assets of the CRMWD by purchase."First, the letter stated, the Val Verde Water Company wanted a non-binding volumetric indication of interest.Second, the company wanted an "inventory of assets, operational integrity, reservoir engineering reports on recoverable subsurface water of the CRMWD; and third, a formal offer to purchase all the assets of CRMWD that included a timeline for consummation of construction and delivery of water from Val Verde County.Last year, CRMWD began construction on a 42-mile pipeline from the Ward County water fields which was supposed to provide an additional 30 million gallons a day to the儲存倉water supply. However, tests in Fort Stockton showed the water quality was better, and Odessa officials decided to build a pipeline from Fort Stockton instead.Water from the Ward County fields is currently not being used and officials have said they would only do so in case of an emergency.Odessa City Manager Richard Morton said he's met with Littlejohn and members of his company several times, calling them "persistent" and "knowledgeable.""I told them multiple times I've appreciated their interest, but I'm chasing other options," Morton said, referring to the current Fort Stockton drilling project. "I was out there (Tuesday) and we've tested the water from the well and it's coming back as excellent water."During the upcoming fiscal year, the Odessa Development Corporation agreed to budget $3 million for the drilling site in Fort Stockton in attempts to drill water from the Captain Aquifer and transport it to Odessa. ODC also granted $3 million during the 2012-2013 fiscal year for the project.The current $3 million, and the rest of ODC's budget, is currently awaiting approval by the Odessa City Council.If the water tests good enough for consumption, Morton said the city would need to get permission from the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District before building a pipeline; a process that could take between 18 to 24 months.Since the drought started, Odessa has faced numerous water restrictions, including the city being limited to 22.4 million gallons of water a day during the 2011 summer. Limited water restrictions -- such as watering lawns twice a week -- are still in effect for Odessa. Last year, council members raised water rates by 40 percent.Earlier in the month, the San Angelo City Council voted against moving forward with the project with the Val Verde Water Company in a 5-4 vote, according to the San Angelo Standard Times. The council was reported as wanting more information and wanting to meet with CRMWD's member cities.San Angelo Mayor Dwain Morrison said he wasn't contacted until June 15 -- the day he was sworn in as mayor.During a presentation to city council members during their open meeting, Morrison said Littlejohn was well informed and provided a lot of information to the council, but they didn't feel comfortable taking a vote that, the council members felt, was a indicate a lack of faith in CRMWD."Every drop of water we've got for the past 10 years comes from Ivie," Morrison said.Within the next 14 months, Morrison said his city hopes to have a pipeline finished that would bring water in from the Hickory Aquifer in McCulloch County.For now, Morrison said officials would continue vetting Val Verde Water Company while hoping to learn more about the company."We knew they had options to water, but we knew they didn't if they have pumps, pipes ... easements or permits," Morrison said.Littlejohn said he understood the city officials want to go through the proper processes in determining water sources, but said if the oil boom continues and people keep coming in, city leaders would need to find more water quickly."One of the problems, in West Texas you get a lot of combinations from formations that have salt and heavy metals in them," Littlejohn said. "Then the questions is, do you RO (reverse osmosis) it and spend more money?"--Contact Nathaniel Miller on twitter at @OAgovernment, on Facebook at OA Nathaniel Miller or call 432-333-7769Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) Visit the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) at .oaoa.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉沙田