Proposal for Brownsville to Help with Water Issues Declined
NEAR SAN PEDRO – People near Brownsville who have been struggling with sporadic cases of yellow water coming from their faucets will have to wait longer for a solution.
Military Highway Water Supply officials rejected a proposal from the Brownsville Public Utilities Board to provide water to their customers near San Pedro in hopes to alleviate the yellow water issues.
They said it was too expensive to buy Brownsville’s water.
Frustration is high right now for residents near San Pedro. Back in September, CHANNEL 5 NEWS spoke to Yadira Lopez about the water problem at her home. She recently told us things haven’t changed.
Military Highway Water Supply Company General Manager Ramon Rosales Jr. confirmed that a deal the company was looking to make with BPUB, to provide water for those with yellow water, is off the table.
“It was over $100,000 just to set up the system through to connect the system to PUB,” he said.
BPUB spokesman Ryan Greenfield said that deal would’ve called for BPUB to open up their lines near Highway 281 to pump water to the San Pedro residents.
“We’re always open to working with Military Highway Water or any local providers, if they were still interested we’re here to talk or help out in any way we can,” he said.
Rosales said the company will hold off for now. He said they are investing about $6 million to install piping to help water flow.
“So that system can be looped and that way instead of just pushing the water east, it’s actually going to come around from the San Benito side and be pushed back toward San Pedro and La Paloma and so forth,” he said.
He mentioned he couldn’t say how soon that infrastructure will be in place.
Lopez filed a complaint with the state.
Rosales said they have also completed $5 million reverse osmosis plant, which has already improved the water quality for many customers.
Even if San Pedro customers wanted to switch water providers on their own, they can’t because of jurisdiction boundaries.