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JC, water authority eye service options
Published November 21, 2009
LAKE JACKSON — After an hour of conversation, officials from Jones Creek and the Brazosport Water Authority were no closer to reaching a decision on how water can be furnished to Jones Creek.
Brazosport Water Authority took no action after their meeting Wednesday to discuss Jones Creek’s loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
To finalize Jones Creek’s receipt of the loan that would enable them to build a water system in their city, Jones Creek must have a document from someone promising they will be able to receive water.
Their options right now are to buy water from the Brazosport Water Authority at a nonmember rate, become a member of the Brazosport Water Authority and receive a member rate or buy water from another city, like Freeport, who has an excess of water, BWA representatives said at the meeting.
The Brazosport Water Authority is a nonprofit surface water treatment plant and serves as wholesale potable water provider to seven member cities, two Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison units and Dow Chemical Co. Member cities include Angleton, Brazoria, Clute, Freeport, Lake Jackson, Oyster Creek and Richwood.
Members not only pay for the cost to treat the water, but are also paying for the bond that paid for the treatment facility to be built. To become a member city, Jones Creek residents and Brazosport Water Authority board must approve the move, said Brazosport Water Authority attorney Frank Mauro.
The board must also decide if Jones Creek should pay back the payments they have missed on the bond.
For the past several months, U.S. Department of Agriculture attorneys and Mauro have been sending contracts back and forth to decide what is needed in a potential contract with the authority, Mauro said.
The board is treading carefully because whatever they decide to do with Jones Creek will set a precedent with other area cities, said Jesse Hernandez, Oyster Creek’s representative to the water authority.
U.S. Department of Agriculture attorneys are reviewing a contract to sell water to Jones Creek.
It will be available for the BWA to review at its next meeting, set for Dec. 8.
“When we close that loan, we need to know exactly what’s going to happen,” said Deborah Wright, U.S. Department of Agriculture area specialist. The department must know that water will be provided to the system that is built with federal money, she said.
Katlynn Lanham covers the Brazosport Water Authority for The Facts. Contact her at 979-237-0150.
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