ODESSA, Texas — A water treatment plant in Odessa is in need of repairs and city council voted to fund it by using certificates of obligation. So, what comes next?
The city first has to send information to a rating agency before it can receive the funds and begin bidding the project. Once the city bids the project, then construction can start after that.
The coming upgrades to the plant were something that couldn't be put off any longer, according to Odessa city councilman Steve Thompson.
"It’s gonna take four years to build a plant, and so it is an emergency," Thompson said. "We do need to get it done now and get moving on it. The can can’t be kicked down the road any further any longer, otherwise the citizens of Odessa will be boiling water."
Despite the council passing the vote, construction likely won't begin until early 2022.
"It’ll probably January, February and then we break ground," Thompson said. "So if we had waited until an election in November or next May, we would’ve been so far behind the curve that we were running some real risk of the water plant going down."
There are several key areas that will be focused on once construction gets underway. Some of the problem areas include structural damage, filters, electrical issues and revamping the computer system.
"The electrical is a real problem," Thompson said. "It's one of the biggest problems, and then over the years, they piecemeal together some computer systems to be able to monitor and we need a new system. We’ll have a whole new computer system to monitor the chemicals going in, how much flow is going in and how much flow is coming out."
So how does this impact Odessa residents? Will water supply be cut off at any point while work is done? Thompson doesn't believe that will be the case.
"No, I don’t think so," Thompson said. "We have two plants up there actually so we work on one while one is down and then we’ll flip over and work on the other one when the new one comes up. So it’s a two-step process."