Commissioners Question Balliew on El Paso Water-Import Project
Hudspeth County commissioners expressed concern about how an El Paso plan to import from Hudspeth County could impact local water users – and particularly customers of Esperanza Water Supply – when El Paso Water Utilities CEO John Balliew attended the court’s meeting Tuesday (March 24).
El Paso has leased property from the Texas General Land Office 15 miles north of McNary for the water-import project. EPWU officials hope to pump between 10,000 and 20,000 acre-feet of groundwater a year at the site, and to transport it to El Paso to meet drinking-water needs in the city. In December 2014, the El Paso city council and the Public Service Board, which oversees EPWU, allocated $5.2 million to drill an exploratory well on the GLO land.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Balliew told commissioners that the utility has already drilled its exploratory well to a depth of about 1,000 feet. The utility has hit water, Balliew said, but has yet to evaluate the well’s production capacity or the quality of the water.
Hudspeth County Judge Mike Doyal said El Paso’s plan to import water had “snuck up” on commissioners – county officials were not notified about the city’s lease with the GLO. Commissioners said they were concerned about the impact the project could have on existing water users, including livestock producers near the site. EPWU’s lease near the Diablo #1 dam, on the southern edge of the high grasslands of the Diablo Plateau.
The Diablo lease is near a site where Esperanza Fresh Water Supply operates a well. Owned by Jobe Materials, Esperanza Fresh Water Supply provides drinking water to more than 250 households on the east side of Fort Hancock, more than half of the water users in the community.
“My concern is that the well is in close proximity to the well the Esperanza water system put in up there,” Doyal said. “I’m concerned they’ll be sucking water out from under Hudspeth County citizens.”
Doyal said that while commissioners had “certainly let them know how we felt,” it’s unclear what if any impact those concerns will have on the El Paso project. Local groundwater districts can impose some limits on pumping, and can regulate water-export projects, but the only groundwater district in Hudspeth County is centered on Dell Valley. In the absence of a groundwater district, local officials have few if any avenues for regulating the water-import project. And Doyal said the county lacks the financial resources to attempt a legal challenge of the project.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners discussed a potential lawsuit connected to a vehicle accident involving a sheriff’s deputy.
Commissioners and Sheriff Arvin West recently received a letter from an attorney representing Sierra Blanca resident, and Northern Hudspeth County EMS administrator, Glennda Merritt-Alcorn. In the letter, Merritt-Alcorn’s attorney says that, on Feb, 16, Merritt-Alcorn and her minor child had driven into the intersection of El Paso Street and Sierra Blanca Boulevard in Sierra Blanca when an on-duty sheriff’s deputy collided with their vehicle.
Documents included with the letter allege that the deputy was traveling at approximately 35 mph when the collision occurred. The negligence of the deputy, the letter alleges, caused “serious bodily injury and damages” to Merritt-Alcorn and her daughter.
In the letter, Merritt-Alcorn petitions the commissioners court for at least $250,000 for herself, and at least $250,000 on behalf of her daughter, for damages suffered in the accident, including pain, medical expenses, loss of earning capacity and physical impairment and disfigurement.
In a unanimous vote, commissioners not to settle or approve the petition, but to refer the matter to lawyers with the county’s insurance company, Travelers Insurance. Doyal said the county was “not necessarily contesting the liability of the accident,” but would “fight the amount.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners approved a bid from Bodillos Roofing of Van Horn, for repairs to the roof of the county jail. The bid was $119,850, and the work will come with a 20-year warranty.
The jail roof leaks extensively, and rainwater flows into inmate cells and into the jail’s halls. Doyal said that five companies had bid on the project – and that the bid commissioners selected was in “the lower-middle range.” Some bidders had proposed “patch jobs” for the existing roof, with short-term warranties, while one company had bid to install a new metal roof at the facility, at a cost of almost half a million dollars. Doyal said the county has funds on-hand to pay for the project.
Work on the roof is expected to begin in April and could go on for three to four weeks, Doyal said. Doyal said the county had “stressed that security was concern,” and he said the jail would be able to operate as normal while the work was underway.
At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners accepted the resignation of Kay Scarbrough from the position of Hudspeth County tax assessor/ collector, effective My 30. Scarbrough has served in the position for 22 years.
The court will seek letters of interest, from individuals seeking to be appointed to the tax assessor/collector position. The position will go before voters again in 2016. Commissioners hope to make the appointment at their April 14 meeting, so that the new appointee will have time to train with Scarbrough.
The county is also seeking bids for a new independent auditor, to begin with an audit of the current fiscal year. Rick Knapp has served as the county’s external auditor for more than a decade. It is a standard procedure for government entities to change independent auditors every five to 10 years, and Doyal said it was “time for a new viewpoint.”