Farm Owner Upset with Water Company Over Construction
Related Story
RIO HONDO – A farm owner in Cameron County said she’s upset with a water supply company after they dug up her land and damaged the native vegetation around her home to install water lines.
Lucy Wilkinson said she was out of town when a friend called to ask why she was knocking down all her trees.
Her farm sits along the US 77 Frontage Road just past Olmito. The land belonged to her and her family since the 1940s.
About three years ago, she said, the East Rio Hondo Water Supply Corporation, her water provider, dug up some of her land to install water pipes.
“They came in without notifying me or asking permission or doing anything, and they brought a tractor that knocked down all my trees and brush along the highway, which kept a lot of the noise out,” Wilkinson said.
Along with the water lines, the water corporation also installed a fire hydrant on her property. She said she preferred the trees.
“Years ago, this farm went to the railroad tracks. It was only a two-lane highway, one going out of Brownsville and one going to Brownsville and all the brush, it was all native brush. We had bobcats, ocelots, rabbits, we had all kinds of animals and I’m still trying to preserve that,” she said.
Wilkinson said her land never recovered from all the construction work.
“I don’t have the mesquite trees and I don’t have the ebony trees,” she said.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS reached out to East Rio Hondo Water Company General Manager Brian McManus. He wouldn’t go on camera; instead he sent us a letter and other documents explaining his side of the issue.
McManus sent us a copy of an agreement signed by Wilkinson in 1989, granting an easement to the water corporation. He said it’s a common practice by water corporations to allow for extension pipelines.
The letter states in part:
"Mrs. Wilkinson's easement to ERHWC has been utilized since her granting it to (the corporation) in 1989 with installation of a water meter on her property. The 4" waterline servicing her property was replaced in 2015 by a 12" waterline that interconnected (the corporation) with Olmito Water Supply Corporation and provided additional flow pressure for South Texas Independent School District, South Texas Academy for Health Professionals."
He also sent us a copy of the notice that went out to Wilkinson to alert her about the construction. It’s dated Sept. 9, 2014.
She admitted she was in Louisiana when construction started but insists she didn’t get proper notice.
She said she doesn’t understand how the corporation can have the rights to her private property.
“I just feel like they are pushing me around. And people can’t do that to somebody that owns property, that owns land. They shouldn’t be able to do that,” she said.
Wilkinson said she didn’t recall the easement agreement she signed almost 30 years ago. But she said the water corporation should’ve tried harder to notify her about their work on her land.
McManus said members of the water corporation are asked to grant an easement in order to keep costs down.
Wilkinson said the water corporation should’ve at least replaced her trees.
News
