(Seguin) — The City of Seguin has officially completed its takeover of a large water service territory previously served by Springs Hill Water.
City Manager Steve Parker says the expansion brings city water service to customers north of Interstate 10, an area experiencing rapid growth.
Parker says the city moved forward with the takeover after concerns that Springs Hill Water lacked the capacity to meet future demand in the area.
“We took over almost 9,500 acres of Springs Hill territory a couple years ago in an agreement, because water resources were very tight and we’ve had significant growth. We knew it was a big endeavor to take out that amount of area and transfer that total area. We didn’t want donut holes, right? So, really everything north of I-10 between highways 46 and 123 up to Link Road was going to come into the city of Seguin utilities. There’s a lot of advantages to that when you think about it from an economies of scale point. That’ll have long-lasting benefits to our community, because now we’ll be able to double our customer base, (and) actually be able to share the cost of the utility. The average cost of water should be able to be really monitored and hopefully minimize any rate increases in the future. It will not eliminate rate increases, but it will have an ability to do that,” said Parker.
Parker says the expansion benefits not only new City of Seguin water customers, but existing customers as well.
The project was completed last week, marking the end of a lengthy and complex process.
“They transferred the entire area almost 60 days ahead of schedule. We did it in three different phases. The third phase went (last week) with no hiccups. We did have a hiccup on the second phase, but that was due to some really aged infrastructure. But our team worked around the clock to get that knocked out as quickly as possible. But this last transfer went beautifully,” said Parker.
He says the expanded service area will support continued growth and have a long-lasting impact on the entire community.
Parker credited city staff for completing the project efficiently and helping move it to the finish line as quickly as possible.
“This was everybody. This was a strong lift from IT. It was a strong lift from our GIS Department, as well as even Fleet. If you can imagine that, the Fleet (Department) got really involved in this project. We needed some boosts in bandwidth in our vehicles to be able to pick up these signals. And they jumped right on it. And so, when you talk about the I-in-team, there isn’t one. This team really does go above and beyond,” said Parker.
Parker says this will continue to bring growth to the area. He says it will have a long-lasting impact on the entire community.
“I just can’t say enough about this project and how this will have really (big impact). I mean, when you look at the average cost of a water bill, those people in that area will save about $15 a month on average on 5,000 gallons. So, it’s a really, really great project. It’s great for our community. But this was a big haul. A lot of infrastructure went into this, a lot of planning (with) tight timelines, (and) a lot of coordination with Springs Hill. We do thank them as well to make those things happen,” said Parker.
The expansion includes all areas north of Interstate 10 between Highway 46 and Highway 123, extending north to Link Road.