By Michael V. Hannigan/HCNow
The Athens City Council and the Athens Municipal Water Authority (AMWA) Board of Directors met together Monday afternoon to discuss their “working relationship.”
There were times when the process got a little sticky but, at least from my vantage point, the two entities moved forward in a way that should encourage city residents.
Notably, the City and AMWA discussed taking steps toward getting the water well at the treatment plant functioning as needed and rearranging the chlorine line in the water treatment plant. According to officials, both those actions would help alleviate the troubles with haloacetic acids the system has had over the past year.
Hopefully the two entities will work toward these goals together, get them done quickly and then build upon that success. I certainly felt like that was the plan as I observed the meeting.
This is a big step and I believe members of both the City Council and the AMWA Board should be congratulated for their work Monday afternoon.
Why?
Because I don’t think we should downplay the lingering effects from the 2013 lawsuit filed against the City by AMWA or the divisive 2014 election which swept AMWA supporters onto the council. Hard feelings remain.
There are also lingering effects from the contract that resulted from that fight between the two entities. Specifically, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) does not recognize the relationship set up between the City and AMWA by the contract.
Put as simply as possible, the current contract says the water belongs to the City when it comes out of the lake while the TCEQ says the water doesn’t belong to the City until after it leaves the treatment plant.
That confusion has caused real administrative problems — and real anger — on both sides.
These are issues that must be addressed moving forward for AMWA and the City to get to what I believe everyone involved wants: quality water for city residents.
Monday’s meeting was a positive move in the right direction.