KINGWOOD — Public Service District 1 has begun drawing water from the Blue and Green Holes, Preston commissioners said Monday.
Commission President Dave Price said the district installed the six-inch pipe from the Holes to Impoundment 6 on Friday.
County Emergency Management/911 Director Duane Hamilton said the district “can gravity flow about 100 to 125 gallons per minute. They can pump about 400 gallons per minute.”
The impoundment level stayed constant over the weekend, Hamilton said, helped in part by rain. On Monday, PSD 1 planned to run the pump again.
The line was paid for through a $20,000 grant from the governor’s office. The commission signed a memorandum of agreement to allow the Office of Emergency Management to act as the pass through for the grant.
“They [the PSD] weren’t a vendor for the state, so we had to receive the money,” Hamilton said.
The district has struggled to keep water palatable to customers and available since the summer drought. It has relied on Impoundment 6 since 2017, when its water source on Ruby Farm was drained by the federal government to replace the 48-year-old dam.
When water levels in Impoundment 6 got as low as 12 inches, the district got permission from the State Division of Natural Resources to use the Blue Hole and Green Hole ponds, but a line had to be run from the ponds to Impoundment 6.
Also Monday, commissioners:
- Agreed to put $27,000.03 received by auctioning off the Ryan property into the capital improvement fund. The property was left to the county by the late Dolores Ryan.
- The bequest was to benefit the county animal shelter. County Administrator Shannon Wolfe asked commissioners if they would like to reimburse the county budget for $14,100 spent last fiscal year on paving at the shelter. They did not act on that.
- Wolfe also gave another option. The shelter needs a place to house small farm animals that may be seized or abandoned, as well as storage space, she said. That could be an addition to the shelter or another structure.
- Commissioners Samantha Stone and Don Smith said it might be difficult to build onto the existing shelter and have room to turn a trailer carrying larger animals. They did not act on either option.
- Learned county employees are taking free classes in cyber security and sexual harassment, this week. The classes are provided by the county’s insurance firm.
- Entered into a memorandum of understanding with the county solid waste authority regarding a 2020 Kawasaki Mule side-by-side and a five-ton dump trailer. The authority will insure the vehicles, which will be used primarily by the county litter control officer.
