The June 13 waterline break that inconvenienced Odessans for the better part of a week cost the City of Odessa nearly $607,000, with the vast majority of the expense going toward equipment costs.
Odessa City Manager Michael Marrero said the city set aside $6 million this year for the repair and maintenance of the city’s water and sewer lines and the June event was paid for using those funds.
“It’s fair to say less projects might not get done (this year) because of the line break,” Marrero said.
On June 13, a 24-inch waterline that was more than 60 years old broke on 42nd and San Jacinto streets. Because of a faulty valve, city workers were unable to shut off the line near the break and instead had to shut off water for the entire city for more than 48 hours. Ector County residents had to boil their water until June 18 while repairs were made and tests were run to ensure the water was safe to drink. Many businesses, especially restaurants, were forced to close their doors in the meantime.
While the city has no way to track how much sales tax revenue it lost, nor how much businesses themselves lost in terms of revenue, on Monday the city released other associated costs to the Odessa American as requested under the Texas Public Information Act.
The city spent just under $511,000 in equipment costs, with roughly $358,000 going to Reece Albert, a Midland roadway construction company that had to repair the road ways to Texas Department of Transportation standards, said Marrero.
Another $78,000 went to Rangeline Pipeline Services of Haslet and more than $39,000 was paid to Natera Excavation, a local company. The Ector County Utility District received more than $29,000 for its assistance.
The city also paid out just over $32,000 in overtime pay to city employees and roughly $13,000 for costs associated with replenishing the $50,000 in water lost as a result of the break, documents show.
The following agencies helped out the city at no cost: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Division of Emergency Management, Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Department of Transportation, Ector County Environmental Enforcement, Ector County Public Works and Northeast Midland County Volunteer Fire Department.
On Monday Marrero again thanked everyone for coming together to help the city get through the crisis, especially City of Odessa staff.
“I’m very proud of the work the staff did,” he said.
According to city officials, Odessa is not unique in having an aging infrastructure.
Under the city’s Master Plan, Utilities Director Tom Kerr has said he and his crew are systemically replacing the city’s older iron-based pipes with those made of PVC, fiberglass or high density polyethylene, but it is a long and costly process, he said.
Kerr said back in June that a priority list has been developed to replace the lines based on the number of breaks each has had, but the list often changes depending upon where the most recent breaks occur and how critical the line is.
Marrero said Monday the city is now in the process of re-evaluating and prioritizing projects and will be taking a specific look at the valves nearest the city’s plant on 42nd Street.
According to the records released Monday, there have been 417 line breaks with city limits from Jan. 8, 2017 through June 30, 2022.
