Public Notice to Boil Water Issued to Cumby February 6, 2015
Due to reduced pressure, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has required the City of Cumby water system, PWS Number 1120001 to notify customers of the need to boil their water prior to consumption.
To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and making ice should be boiled and cooled prior to use. The water should be brought to a vigorous, rolling boil and then boiled for two minutes. In lieu of boiling, you may purchase bottled water or obtain water from some other suitable source.
When it is no longer necessary to boil the water, the water system officials will notify you that the water is safe for consumption. Instructions to discontinue boiling will be issued in the same manner as this notice.
If you have questions concerning this matter, you may contact Cumby City Hall at 903-994-2272 or Roger Petty at 903-348-4731.
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City Council Meeting Recap
The Sulphur Springs City Council passed on first reading an ordinance amending the city zoning ordinance regarding billboards at a meeting Tuesday night. City Manager Marc Maxwell said the new ordinance severely limits placement of billboards to highways. Billboards can’t be within 2,000 feet of each other and the ordinance limits the size of the billboard. The ordinance will have to be approved on its second and final reading next month to take effect.
In other business Tuesday night, the Sulphur Springs City Council heard a glowing outside audit report on city finances and then accepted the audit. City Manager Marc Maxwell said the bottom line for him was that city reserves equal 25% of the city’s annual operating costs. The council also took the first step toward creating reinvestment zones for Clayton Homes and Ocean Spray. The council also called a May 9 election.
During public forum at the Sulphur Springs City Council Meeting Tuesday night, a man complained about a neighbor using his backyard as a bathroom because the home had no water service. City Manager Marc Maxwell said the city was beginning to focus on problems like this, especially with the adoption of the International Property Maintenance Code. 60 new cases of property being allowed to deteriorate were filed last month.
As Fracking Proliferates in Texas, So Do Disposal Wells
by Kate Galbraith and Terrence Henry, The Texas Tribune – March 29, 2013
This article is part of an occasional series on water and hydraulic fracturing by The Texas Tribune and StateImpact Texas.
GONZALES, Texas — In a dusty lot off the main highway in this South Texas town, Vern Sartin pointed to a collection of hose hookups and large storage tanks used for collecting wastewater from hydraulic fracturing jobs.
“We run about 30 to 40 trucks a day, 24-7,” Sartin said. “Depending on how the oil fracking is going out there, if they’re hustling and bustling, then we’re hustling and bustling.”
Sartin is a watchman at a disposal well operated by Gulf Coast Acquisitions, where each day oil and gas companies dispose of wastewater by pumping it deep underground.
Wastewater disposal wells like this one are becoming a common landmark in the drilling regions of Texas as the water-intensive practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, continues to spread. In the fracking process, several million gallons of water, combined with sand and chemicals, are sent down a well to break up rock and retrieve oil and gas. Some of the fluid comes back up, along with additional underground water.
Most of this wastewater is trucked to disposal wells and injected thousands of feet underground for permanent storage. But those wells have caused concern about truck traffic, accidents and the possibility for spills and groundwater contamination.
Texas oil and gas regulators may soon tighten the rules for the construction of the wells, and they are encouraging drilling companies to reduce waste by recycling more water.
Here and at other sites with big disposal wells, dozens of trucks a day roll in to pump out wastewater. Typically a dark, relatively thick liquid smelling of sulfur, and containing chemicals and minerals, the wastewater generally has high salinity. Sometimes, it contains low levels of radiation.
The wastewater goes into a pit, then into a separator tank that allows the remaining oil to surface. Workers then skim the oil and sell it.
The amount of wastewater being disposed of in Texas wells has skyrocketed with the spread of fracking, to nearly 3.5 billion barrels in 2011 from 46 million barrels in 2005, according to data from the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas regulator. On average, companies in Texas dispose of 290 million barrels of wastewater — equivalent to about 18,500 Olympic-size swimming pools — each month.
The state has more than 8,000 active disposal wells, about 850 of which are large commercial operations, according to the Railroad Commission. That is far more than other drilling states like Pennsylvania or Ohio. Texas has another 25,000 wells that accept waste fluids and use them to retrieve additional oil and gas.
It can take months for a company to obtain a permit for a disposal well, because they are controversial. This week, for example, the three railroad commissioners delayed a decision on whether to grant a permit for a disposal well in Palo Pinto County, about 70 miles west of Fort Worth.
The commissioners asked about the well’s proximity to tributaries of the Brazos River, the longest river in Texas and a major source of water. The commission’s own records show that last year it approved 72 percent of applications for disposal well permits.
“We have to have disposal wells presently,” said Barry Smitherman, the commission chairman. He added, “If we don’t continue to permit disposal wells, then that means that trucks have to drive longer distances to haul flow-back water, which leads to the deterioration of roadways and potential accidents.”
A review of complaints to the commission showed several reports of trees and vegetation being killed by wastewater spills from leaky pumps, storage pits and storage tanks. In parts of the Barnett Shale drilling area, in North Texas, scientists have linked disposal wells to earthquakes.
In one instance, a Texas disposal well contaminated an aquifer, according to Christi Craddick, a recently elected railroad commissioner.
“It was an operator who didn’t do his due diligence and was a bad actor,” she said. “The remediation’s been going on for a while.”
Craddick said wastewater from the well escaped into groundwater nearby. The leak was found in 2005 and affected an aquifer called the Pecos River Cenozoic Alluvium, according to the Railroad Commission.
“Occasionally it happens, but not very often, thankfully, given the number of wells we drill all over the state,” Craddick said.
The company behind the well had its permit revoked by the commission and has gone into bankruptcy, she said.
Another concern is that wastewater injected into the ground might shoot into a nearby abandoned oil well. Texas has thousands of abandoned wells left from the wildcatting days of the last century, and the Railroad Commission is trying to plug them.
“We’ve been drilled up like crazy out here,” said Slate Williams, the general manager of the Crockett County Groundwater Conservation District in the Permian Basin.
In a few instances, Williams added, “they’ll be in a field where they are pumping some of these old wells, and they have an injection in one part of it, and all of a sudden something happens and there’s this big leak and it shoots up though the well, and the neighbor’s water well starts getting salty.”
Disposal well operators are generally required to leave at least 250 feet of impermeable rock or clay between “usable quality water” and the area where the wastewater will be injected.
When applying for a permit, they must also promise to survey (and plug, if necessary) all wells within a quarter mile. But some older oil wells may not be in state databases, according to Ronald Green, a scientist with the Southwest Research Institute, a nonprofit organization based in San Antonio that has done research on fracking and groundwater.
Green also said that “when you inject fluids, they may not only go a quarter mile, they may go a fair bit further than that.”
Railroad Commission records show at least five violations against disposal wells last year for the improper plugging of old wells.
Regulators are in the early stages of tightening requirements for disposal wells. A Railroad Commission memo last May cited the “issue of insufficient surface casing,” meaning cemented piping, in the disposal wells as they bore through aquifers on their way to deeper geologic formations.
The overhauled rules would probably include stricter requirements for the casing of wells and more detailed surveying and plugging of nearby wells (both active and abandoned) to protect water supplies and prevent wastewater from escaping. The rules could also require that groundwater district managers be notified of a new disposal well permit application. Smitherman said he hoped the proposals would be ready around May so that updated rules could be adopted during the summer.
Recycling more water from fracking operations could slow the growth of disposal wells. The Railroad Commission approved new rules this week aimed at making it easier to recycle. However, recycling technology is expensive compared with dumping wastewater at one of Texas’ many disposal wells, and its use remains minimal.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/29/disposal-wells-fracking-waste-stir-water-concerns/.
Lanes Closures Scheduled Along SH 37 from Mt. Vernon to Winnsboro
PARIS – Motorists who travel along State Highway 37 from Mount Vernon to Winnsboro, Texas, should be on the alert for temporary lane closures beginning Feb. 9. Work crews will be on site then drilling test borings of the pavement.
The closures are scheduled for six to eight days, and may cause some temporary traffic delays.
During this time, motorists are asked to slow down, drive to existing road and traffic conditions, and obey all traffic control devices and flaggers they may encounter, said Texas Department of Transportation officials.
For more information, contact [email protected] or (903) 737-9213.
City Receives a Nuisance Complaint
During the public forum portion of the regular meeting of the Sulphur Springs City Council Tuesday night, a citizen had a complaint. City Manager Marc Maxwell noted this type of complaint is one the city is seeing a lot more of lately.
City Council Passes New Sign Ordinance on First Reading
The Sulphur Springs City Council passed an ordinance on first reading amending the city Zoning Ordinance regarding off premise signage at a regular meeting Tuesday night. City Manager Marc Maxwell comments.
Kelly Ray Tadlock, Was Found Guilty of one Count of Indecency With a Child
A 43-year old Sulphur Springs man, Kelly Ray Tadlock, was found guilty of one count and not guilty on another count of indecency with a child in Hopkins County 8th District Court Wednesday. A two-day trial was conducted before District Judge Eddie Northcutt who rendered the verdict. The trial involved two sisters. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled on February 25 at 9 a.m. Assistant DA Clay Harrison said Tadlock was not eligible for probation and could be sentenced from 2 to 20 years in prison. Judge Northcutt has ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
Local Radio Shack Fate Still Undecided
With all of the national news about Fort Worth based Radio Shack’s rumored imminent bankruptcy, local citizens are concerned what that may mean for our local store. When talking with one of the local managers, no decision has been made for our local store. Although Radio Shack has several types of stores including franchised stores, our local store is a true corporately owned store. Moving into their current 3,000 sf on Broadway in 2001, they have enjoyed increased sales with a wider selection and easier access. Although the store is corporately owned, the real estate is owned by a local developer and leased back to Radio Shack. Time will tell what decision may be made. Radio Shack’s stock was delisted by the NYSE on Monday, which normally is the final blow to a company’s viability. Sprint is currently in negotiations to buy half of Radio Shack’s existing stores, but it is unclear for what purpose.
Sulphur Springs Area of Retired School Personnel will meet Tuesday, February 10
The Sulphur Springs Area of Retired School Personnel will meet Tuesday, February 10, at the Home Plate Restaurant in Sulphur Springs at 11:15. The Speaker will be Fran Castro from Legacy Hospice who will bring the program for the meeting. President Tommy Long encourages all members and any guests to attend.
Morning Electrical Fire Leaves Family Of 4 Homeless
An electrical fire, suspected to have started near the washer and dryer, leaves a Hopkins County family of four homeless. All family members and pets are safe and accounted for. Two children, 5 and 6 years old, were shaken by the event.
The home is on Highway 11 approximately 3 miles SE of Sulphur Springs.
Hopkins County Fire Chief Keven Yates estimates the damage to the structure estimated at 25 percent. Damage to the families contents are estimated to be near 80 percent .
Red Cross was en route and has been notified to assist the now homeless family. We talked with Chief Yates:
