I am responding to the article titled “Arlington’s water system strained by deep freeze”. As Paul Harvey would say here is “the rest of the story”.
The City has done a lot to plan for future improvement to our water system, which hasn’t had any major upgrades in about 20 years. The situation we are in now is due to component/equipment failures and the nature of our well #1 water smell quality is something we have always had to deal with. In addition, equipment always struggles when it gets that cold. Recently, the City has:
• Completed and updated our WSMP (2022). We have an approved plan moving forward.
• Developed a plan to remove sulfur (the smell) from Well #1 water.
• Developed a plan to add the golf course well into the system for better water quality and more water quantity.
• Remarkably, we held a 1-stop meeting to see what project funding may be available (2023).
• Remarkably, we submitted funding paperwork to get on a list for the proposed improvements (01-15-2024).
So, we are checking the necessary planning and funding boxes to move closer to fixing some if not all of these concerns. In addition, our City Engineer tells us the water system is certainly not as precarious or bad as the article makes it out to be. We would be overjoyed to have the County Court help fund our project as they have millions in unappropriated funds. This might be a qualified project for their Grant Program. We will ask.
We are always concerned when our residents are without the services we provide. Our Public Works crew has worked tirelessly through the past week to restore water, plow roads, and the numerous daily tasks to keep our City running. I commend them for their efforts and results.
— Mayor Jeff Bufton, City of Arlington
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