$120M Hickory Aquifer more reality each day in San Angelo

SAN ANGELO – The Hickory Aquifer pipeline will be ready to deliver water by mid-August, but if San Angelo continues to conserve water, it may not need it for a while.

“At this point we don’t foresee using this water any time soon,” said Anthony Wilson, the city’s public information officer. “Our hope is that we don’t have to use it until the groundwater treatment facility is complete next year.”

The city has been waiting for completion of the project, which will add 6 million gallons per day to San Angelo’s drinking water supply. Residents now rely on reservoir water, a supply threatened by a long-standing drought.

Once complete, the pipeline will be capable of delivering 6 million gallons per day from nine existing wells in McCulloch County that San Angelo bought rights to in the 1970s.

Bids for drilling five to seven additional wells will be open July 11. With more wells, the aquifer is estimated to be capable of delivering another 3 million gallons per day to the city. Officials expect construction of the new wells will take one year.

The $120 million project, which will serve as a long-term supplemental water source, is funded by a low-interest loan from the Texas Water Development Board.

The city has imposed watering restrictions to conserve its reservoir waters, which amount to about 17 months at current consumption levels, between 11 million and 15 million gallons daily.

The 30-inch main transmission line lacks two sections to completion, which makes it 99.8 percent complete, said Kevin Krueger, assistant director of Water Utilities.