BRUCEVILLE-EDDY, Texas — Residents in Bruceville-Eddy are voicing concerns after water and road issues surfaced during a $19 million sewer project. City officials say fixes are coming soon.
- Residents in Bruceville-Eddy report brown water and poor road conditions during a $19 million sewer system project.
- City officials blame outdated infrastructure and hand-drawn maps for recent water line breaks and disruptions.
- Bottled water is being provided, and road repairs are in progress, with officials promising improvements soon.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"We've hit some challenges, this is our first ever sanitary sewer system,” said Bruceville-Eddy City Administrator Kent Manton.
As the city of Bruceville-Eddy moves forward with its nearly $19 million sewer project, city leaders are addressing growing concerns from our neighbors.
25 News spoke with City Administrator Kent Manton, who tells us the project is currently 50 to 60% complete, but it's come with growing pains—including 15 to 20 water line breaks since construction began.
"Some of those have been insignificant, small, and isolated to one customer, and some of those have shut down the entire city because we were not able to get the pressure down enough, or the valves weren't cutting off this individual line,” Manton said.
The mayor sent out this news release last Friday —informing residents that many issues have stemmed from improperly maintained maps that were hand drawn for decades.
"They've faced a lot of issues with outdated and inaccurate maps for the water lines and the gas mains too,” Manton said.
But over the last two years, the city has upgraded to a new engineering firm and has transferred them to a geographic mapping platform.
25 News received a video from one neighbor two weeks ago — showing the water streaming from her faucet that she says appears brown and unsanitary.
Although she and her husband chose not to be on camera, they describe the situation as 'absolutely disgusting'.
"We just ask for everyone's patience on this one. We've heard their concerns on the water main breaks and road conditions,” Manton said.
In response, the city is now offering bottled water at City Hall for any residents in need.
25 news drove down Hungry Hill Road - one area where residents report poor road conditions and a lack of signage.
The city tells 25 News it's begun preliminary engineering work for a full reclamation of portions of the road and is currently in negotiations with its main contractor on improved road signage.
"We drive down these roads just like everybody else does. We're ready for them to be completely overhauled at the end of this project, a $1.6 million investment, it's coming soon. There is light at the end of this tunnel,” said Manton.
According to the press release, the council has elected to provide a full-width reclamation to all streets torn up from this construction, but they will not be able to perform that work until the sewer system is complete.
