CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Rockport’s wastewater plant is getting $4.5 million worth of upgrades right now. The money is coming from federal ARPA dollars and bond monies.
The huge outlay of cash is due to the fact that all the machinery and parts that run the place are around 30 to 35 years old. Public Works Director Mike Donoho said they’re hoping to set aside money in the future to keep from having to do all of this work at once.
”On top of everything we’re doing we’re looking at a preventative maintenance program and a capital improvement replacement program to ensure that as years go by we have funds set aside to make sure we can upgrade our wastewater treatment plant and repair as needed,” Donoho said.
For years, a treated wastewater line has run from the plant to the Country Club so the course there can be watered. The rest of the treated sewage flows down across the street into Tule Creek. Eventually, it winds its way down into Little Bay, a popular spot for wildlife and boaters.
The director of public works says there’s some new exciting plans on sending some of that water to at least one nearby park.
”We have a beautiful park directly next to the wastewater treatment plant here, we’re looking at the near future where we can take the effluent and pump it over to the park and irrigate the park and the sports field with it,” Donoho said.
The city is also asking residents to help them keep this plant running perfectly by avoiding flushing those supposedly "flushable wipes."
”Discard them in a waste can next to the toilet and put them in your garbage," Donoho said. "If you come into any wastewater treatment plant in any city the flushable wipes do not disintegrate or bio degrade as quickly as toilet paper. We call them rags. They gum up all our pipes.”
The upgrades to this facility are expected to take a year to complete. There’s no timetable on when that effluent park project is going to take place.