Westward Water Main Expansion Information

At the Council meeting on Monday, October 21, the westward water main expansion was once again discussed.

The City is responsible for supplying water to its constituents, no matter the location, resident or facility. Infrastructure is the responsibility of the City.

The Mayor and City staff have met with the Learning Center Administration and Director in a collaborative effort to solve this issue and are currently searching for unique ways to fund the project without using taxpayers’ dollars. With the situation being unique in nature, officials are seeking the aid of representatives, programs and more to help fund the buildout. Work is being done every day to ensure that this gets done in a timely manner due to the unfortunate severity of specific facilities not having access to City water service. Currently, the design for the project is underway. However, the project has yet to be approved by Council.

The City’s goal is to build out the water system and bring utilities to current and future organizations and residents that are currently without access. This includes 11 residential units, one commercial unit, an HCC Agriculture Hydroponic school, and two farm fields, one owned by the Freeport School District. All are within City limits.

At this time, the closest water main to the furthest West organization is approximately 2,100 feet away. Not 12 feet. Not 750 feet. But 2,100 feet away. This creates a dangerous situation for fire suppression. This project would help to install 7 total fire hydrants and provide sufficient volume and flow for occupied structures. It would also fix a 25-year gap of fire suppression in this corridor.

With the approval and completion of this project, these current and future organizations and residents would be able to connect to municipal water services and the City would then be positioned to future Westward annexation and expansion.