Friday, June 23, 2017

AT SAN PEDRO: SANS EAU, SANS REPRESENTATION, SANS HOPE

By Juan Montoya
Once again, the residents of this burg on the westernmost outskirts of Brownsville went before the board of the Military Highway Water Supply Company and were told to...wait.

For the past year or more, the clients of the MHWS have been putting up with water contaminated with organic and particulates-laden silt that give the water emanating from their spigots and faucets a greenish, yellowish taint. They have been warned not to drink the water or allow their children to come into contact with the liquid.

San Pedro residents, literally at the tail end of the supply chain for the water district, have been putting up with tainted water because of contaminated pipes that have not been maintained as they should have been. Cleanup efforts have proven to be extremely expensive and residents now buy their drinking water. 

Nonetheless, in past meetings, they have brought children before the board to show rashes and outbreaks in their skin that resulted when they came into contact with the water. At yesterday's meeting of the water supply company board, no one from the City of Brownsville was there to speak out on their behalf.

San Pedro is within the limits of the City of Brownsville.


District 4 commissioner Ben Neece has been out of town for the last week and At-Large "B" commissioner Rose Gowen, who campaigned there before he reelection in May, was a no-show. Residents there had pinned their hopes on Gowen who flaunted her public-health credentials when she made a campaign pit stop with former District 4 commissioner John Villarreal.

The residents had pinned their hopes on Gowen, a practicing gynecologist with a bent toward public health given her past association with the University of Texas School of Public Health. She also champions other health-related issues like the farmers' market, cyclobia, etc., and in general, everything healthy.

After the election, when residents called on her to deliver, she told several of them there was nothing she could do after all.

Yesterday, the only public official who accompanied the citizens of San Pedro when they went before the MHWS board begging them to do something now about the contaminated water was Cameron County Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez. Dominguez said he understood that the contaminated water was not a county government problem, but has urged the board to consider temporary solutions like tapping into the Brownsville Public Utility Board's lines. That solution could cost a mere $100,000, a payment that the MHWS board has declined to consider.

In response to the residents' and Dominguez's appeals for the board members to do something, the board instead brought their engineer to say it'll be roughly 16 to 24 months for them to finish the studies, and then more time to get the funding and clearance from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) complete the job.

"Twenty four months is not a solution," said a resident. "It sounds like a long-range plan."

Some residents said that – given the board's recalcitrance to act quickly to address the health hazard problem with their tainted water – they are already in consultation with a law firm to seek a solution.
The MHWS has been cited by the TCEQ for – among other things, high arsenic levels in the utility's drinking water.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice way to make ALEX DOMINGUEZ look good! Cheap, but nice.

Anonymous said...

if this place is outside city limits, why dump on Rose Gowen? lame on your part, bro

Anonymous said...

I agree with the fucker @ 11:47 AM

Anonymous said...

Residents had pinned their hopes on Gowen.. Residents had pinned their hopes on Gowen... you wrote it TWICE!!! Unbelievable.

your pathetic Juan, your fighting a loosing battle, you hate the fact she KICKED YOUR ASS with her reelection and you can't get over it.

lloron!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 11:47..."San Pedro is within the city limits of Brownsville ".........read much, bro ?

Anonymous said...

Not only are the residents of San Pedro and the surrounding subdivisions within the Brownsville City limits in harm of contaminated water; but, also all the BISD children that attend Villanueva School in San Pedro. Not only the children but the school faculty and staff that provide the services to those children. Do we want another Flint, Michigan!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting this. So far for both meetings, the only one who has shown up to support us has been Commissioner Dominguez. I am not a political person but I am a taxpayer to both the City of Brownsville and Cameron County, and our Water is terrible. We refer to San Pedro as our area but it is still City of Brownsville.

Anonymous said...

Rose Gowen is hyprocrite. She turns her back on the poor,the helpless. God has a special place for those kinds of people. Rosita Gowen you will answer to God for your greed. He gave you a talent that you have abused to enrich yourself, your husband, your son and your friends. The poor have cried out to God. Soon you will hear God speak to you. I pray you turn from your ways and help those you promised to help.

Anonymous said...

San Pedro is in the Browsnsville,TX City Limits. NO matter how hard you try Rosita Gowen you can't hide from the truth. The truth is you are a liar, a thief and a lousy commissioner.

San Pedro is sooo fortunate to have a true leader Commissioner Alex Dominguez helping them.

Anonymous said...

Villa nueva elementary is in san pedro. Yet the principal says the water is not an issue, that the children are given bottle water. Yet my children say that they provide some water and once thats is gone no more is provided. So how do they cook and clean at the school. Veterans h.s. is less than a mile from Villa Nueva elementary amd veterans does have PUB water. Yet all the homes that are before getting to the H.S. have Military Water Supply Company. It Doesn't make sense. Gowen promised to look into the matter during electuon time. But i guess doing bike trails is more important than our children. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. We are within the Brownsville city limits yet our water comes from Progresso Texas. This does not make sense in any way.

Anonymous said...

We are within Brownsville city limits. We pay over $3000 in property taxes... which includes city of Brownsville taxes!!

Anonymous said...

Do we want another Flint, Michigan!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop complaining, vote for the love of God.

Especially against Eddie Lucio III the sellout bastard, who was taking land to build a leaky pipeline to bring San Pedro's problems into all of Brownsville's water supply.

tom landrie said...

Brownsville is the city of idiots. Idiots that vote for useless individuals like our city commissioners.

Anonymous said...

rain water harvesting might be the answer for these folks.

rita