Reprint from the Progress Times - November 23, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

City of La Joya water shut off

By Kathy Olivarez

The entire City of La Joya was without water for half a day when the pumps supplying the city’s water broke down recently.

The water outage, on November 2, caused difficulties for local businesses such as restaurants trying to prepare meals and serve customers. It also posed problems for public schools served by the city’s water supply. Fortunately, the city was able to resume pumping water by mid-day.

The Progress Times spoke with La Joya City Manager Mike Alaniz, who said the problem had been cleared up and the city no longer had a problem. He attributed the problem to the fact that one of the pumps belonging to Irrigation District #16 broke down in October. The result was that less water than usual was being pumped into La Joya Lake, the city’s sole source of water. The elevation of the lake dropped. That made it harder to pump water from the lake.

Then, the irrigation districts’ second pump failed. So, for a while, the district could not pump any water from the river for the city.

The first pump, having been rebuilt, was quickly re-installed the evening of November 1. But it took nearly a day for the pump to bring the lake level up sufficiently for the city to draw out water.

When asked what could be done to prevent the problem Alaniz said construction of a water storage tank under the lake in the area where La Joya pumps its water would help assure that the water was deep enough to make pumping easier. This storage tank would be below the surface of the lake and hold water even when lake levels are low.

Alaniz said that the City of La Joya has also purchased a 35-acre site of land to construct a water reservoir solely for city use. In addition to the City of La Joya, water for agricultural use is pumped from La Joya Lake. The city is trying to get a Community Development Block Grant that would help fund the construction of the reservoir. He said it might take a year or two to get it funded.

Plans for construction of the new lake came about after a strategic plan was completed showing future rapid growth in the area.

Alaniz said the unofficial population of the city is around 6,000. At the last census, the population was about 4,500. With a 23 percent growth rate in less than 10 years, the La Joya aldermen are unsure how fast the area will grow in the next 20 years but they are planning ahead to meet water needs.

In addition to the growth in the central city area, Alaniz said the city recently annexed 900 acres north of the city bringing another 15 to 20 square miles into the city. The city has to prepare for this growth as well. Currently, the jurisdiction of the City of La Joya Water Supply includes the land from the river to 2.5 miles north of the expressway. It encompasses the land east of the city to the Penitas boundary and the land about a half-mile west of Leo Avenue, the main north-south traffic artery.

Alaniz was asked if the city had any back-up systems to help provide water for the city in the future in case both pumps go down at the same time. He said the city is planning to dig a well on the property where the future reservoir is to be located for a backup in future emergencies.

In addition, for extreme emergencies there is a line that ties into the La Joya Water Supply Corporation, now known as the AGUA Special Utility District. Alaniz said the district pumped water to La Joya for about one hour during the time when no water was available.

While the issue was quickly resolved with help from several sources, the bigger question is what happens to a city when the source of its water suddenly comes to a halt?

The Progress Times also spoke to Irrigation District #16, whose pumps had been out of action. The district’s finance director, Steven Dunn said there was sufficient water in the lake for usage; there was no shortage of supply for the City of La Joya. In fact, there was enough water in the lake to serve the municipal needs for another 35 months.

Dunn referred the Progress Times to Tito Nieto, plant manager for Irrigation District #16 for further explanation.

According to Nieto, the City of La Joya needs to deepen the site where it gets its water supply in much the same way Alaniz suggested. Currently, the pipe is on a float in the middle of the lake, which Nieto says does not work as efficiently as it would if there were a sump under it. By building the underground tank so that when water levels in the lake drop, there will be an area where water is still clear because algae and moss will be on the bottom and not near the pumps. This would keep the pumps from choking.

Nieto said Irrigation District #16 had problems with its pumps at the river, not in La Joya Lake. When the pumps broke down in October, Nieto said all water shipments for agricultural use were stopped to assure an adequate supply for municipal use. Had he not done so the high level of agricultural use would have drained the lake in two weeks.

The river pumps are now working again at full speed. New pumps are needed every four to five years. The high-speed pumps at the river can pump 45 cubic feet of water per second. At that rate it can pump 90 acre-feet in 24 hours. The City of La Joya only uses 50 acre-feet per month.

According to Nieto, La Joya Lake is a 500-acre reservoir that is more than adequate to meet the needs of the City of La Joya and of the agricultural community it serves. It has 3,500 acre-feet of water in it. He also said that algae is a common problem and is the reason that all cities uses chemicals to purify the drinking water.