The day before a special groundbreaking ceremony for Agua Special Utility District I had met with its engineer and executive director, Oscar Cancino at Peppers at Uptown in McAllen.
I went in to get something to eat. I didn’t anticipate meeting a few old friends and new ones, much less talk about wastewater systems and infrastructure improvements.
I usually like to talk about urban design, placemaking, walkability and health by design. This time I listened and was very interested. It so happens that what we both do goes hand in hand.
So, when I was invited to the groundbreaking it peaked my curiosity. I mostly remembered Mission Mayor Norberto Salinas’ and Senator Juan ‘Chuy’ Hinojosa’s comments because it seemed to me like they have been intimately involved in making this happen behind the scenes.
Mayor Salinas addressed the distinguished crowd by saying the new project had been a long time coming. In fact, he said he and others have been working on it for about ten years now. Finally, he said, the Palmview community would be one step closer to saying goodbye to their septic tanks!
Texas Water Development Board Member Kathleen Jackson said the Agua SUD Palmview Wastewater Collection project is a model that the rest of the state of Texas should learn follow. For obvious health reasons, getting rid of your septic tank and connecting to a sewer system is more desirable.
Agua SUD is by no means a small district. It comprises the cities of Palmview, La Joya, Mission and Peñitas. One hundred sixty thousand linear feet of sewer line will be constructed along with four lift stations, which will connect to about 1,600 homes in the district. The system will ultimately flow to the City of Mission’s Wastewater treatment plant.
The cost is $42 million of which $29.3 million was provided by the Texas Water Development Board, with the help and cooperation of several entities and elected officials from across the area. Because this area is economically distressed it qualified for the funds through a special program that helps economically distressed areas. State legislators found Agua SUD $12.8 million through the Clear Water State Revolving Fund as a low interest loan.
I was honored to be invited to participate in this historic milestone. Mr. Cancino and I had an opportunity to discuss quality of life improvement projects and environmental design mandates that can help improve accessibility and healthy living for low socio-economic areas such as these.
While digging is being done for new sewer lines and improvements to roadways for better flow for vehicles we talked about how we can bring other sources of funding to improve street design for bike routes, landscaping, road diets, crosswalks for pedestrians and shading and lighting to bring more people closer to a more active lifestyle.
Mr. Cancino was left thinking… possibly that not only can a community demand better water treatment facilities but they might even be able to integrate sustainable street design and bring one of the last incorporated communities to urban standards. I believe this might be the beginning of more legislative collaboration in Austin to benefit our economically disadvantaged communities in the Rio Grande Valley.
Stay Tuned!
