Truckers saving the day in a dry city

Meet Allen Rodriguez. He has been a part of the continuous trucking operation to keep water flowing in a small town west of San Antonio. Ramirez arrives at work at 7 a.m. and pumps approximately 7,000 gallons from a groundwater well into an 18-wheeler, which he then drives approximately 6 miles across town to four 50,000-gallon tanks. It can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to fill up, and another 45 minutes to pump it out.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that “he then repeats the process for the rest of his workday, as does co-worker Douglas Pena in another truck. Both are contracted drivers hired by the Concan Water Supply Corp. Together, they fill the tanks eight to 10 times a day.”

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality uses the following terms to describe the severity of a community’s water status:

• Outage: Water service interrupted
• Emergency: Could be out of water in 45 days or less
• Priority: Could be out of water in 90 days or less
• Concern: Could be out of water in 180 days or less
• Watch: Has a supply of water greater than 180 days