City water could be coming

WEST ODESSA Residents here have been down this road before. But, this time, there really could be light at the end of the tunnel — or at least water at the end of the pipeline.

The West Odessa Water Supply Corp. has voted to authorize a committee to negotiate a contract with the city of Odessa that would let the 500-member organization tap into a line near the intersections of West Loop 338, Kermit Highway and West 42nd Street, said Lynn Dudney, water supply corporation president.

The city plans to sell West Odessa treated water at a wholesale price of $2.95 per 1,000 gallons, said Shirley Cook, the water supply corp.’s secretary treasurer, though the price is subject to change by the time the project is online.

“I feel good about it,” said Cook, who has to supplement the small amount of water she’s able to get from a well at her own house on Treva Drive with well water trucked in from her son’s house inside the city limits.

After a contract is reached, the deal must still be approved by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development in order for the project to receive a $3 million grant.

After that, it could still be two to three years before the first residents start to see service, said Ector County Commissioner Freddie Gardner, whose precinct includes the affected areas of West Odessa. The water supply corporation would still need to obtain right-of-way for pipelines and send the project out for bids.

And the $3 million would just cover the first phase of the project, which could eventually impact 10,000 people, Gardner said. Additional money would have to be located to expand service to more homes, as well as for building a water storage tank and pump station. The pump station would be needed because of elevation increases in western parts of Ector County, meaning water would have to be forced uphill.

“It sounds like it should get done,” Gardner said.

But others are skeptical. The corporation had a deal in place in 2005 to secure water from Texland Great Plains Supply Ltd. of Fort Worth, which provided Ogallala Aquifer water to the city of Goldsmith.

But that deal fell through when bids came back around $5 million, higher than the water supply corporation was budgeting or receiving from bids, Dudney said.

“It ought to come in cheaper now that we’re not having the (oil) boom there in Odessa,” he said.

But some aren’t buying it, including Robert and Martha Phillips, who have been trucking in water at least once a week from Goldsmith to their home on West 61st Street since the water well on their property went dry six years ago.

Robert Phillips said he has “no faith” whatsoever in his elected officials.

“I don’t believe it anyway,” he  said. “They aren’t gonna get it.”

The Phillips store water in a 2,500-gallon tank on their property.

Cook said water access is spotty in West Odessa, with some residents still watering their yards day and night, while others have lawns full of nothing but dust and weeds.

Martha Phillips said the water situation has left residents with worthless property, forcing them to continue living there.

“We have no choice,” she said. “We can’t sell it. It’s either stay or walk off and leave it.”

The first phase of the project would extend water service from West University Boulevard and Moss Road, west toward FM 866 and north toward Yukon Road, Dudney said.

Odessa City Manager Richard Morton said the city was working with the water supply corporation, but that some technical issues still needed to be worked out, including delivery points and what water pressure West Odessa needs water delivered at.

“Will one delivery point be enough?” he said. “Do they need two in case one goes out?”

Hooking into city water would be a relief for those in West Odessa, who’ve been trying to get a water supply since 1999, Cook said.

“Oh my goodness, it would be a lot less work,” she said. “There’s lots of people out here that are hurting.”