CANDELARIA — The Candelaria Public Water Supply, on which around 50 residents rely, is steadily improving following a period of destabilization spurred by the death of longtime manager Rosaelva Madrid.
Public water supply systems for Presidio County’s most remote, sparsely populated communities, including Candelaria, Ruidosa and Redford, were established in the 1990s but have recently become the focus of a new entity, the Presidio County Utilities Systems Board (USB).
The board was originally formed in the fall of 2023 in order to meet requirements of a $4.6 million Economically Distressed Areas Program (EDAP) grant the county received from the Texas Water Development Board. That grant will fund remediations to wastewater issues at Fort D.A. Russell, first time water and wastewater services for East Heights in Marfa, planning and design of water services for Las Pampas and a long-term solution to Shafter’s ongoing water instability.
This past July, representatives from each of the small communities, including Shafter, were appointed to the USB. Shortly after the board went on a tour of all of the public water supply systems to assess needs in the various communities.
“Candelaria has the biggest needs,” said County Commissioner elect and Board Chair Deirdre Hisler. “They were having to go up and turn on and off their pump in order to get water to the houses in Candelaria.”
The pump that fills up the water storage tank, which then distributes water to customers, was not automatically turning on and off. “It was done manually, which is not a very good way to do it,” said Redford Public Water Supply Corporation President and member of the USB Charlie Angell. “The people lose water pressure as it got lower.”
In addition to the pump issues, Candelaria, which has long had residents on a boil water notice, is facing around $6,000 in fines from the Texas Center on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“They have a tremendous amount of findings from TCEQ and EPA,” Hisler said. “We wanted to jump on that immediately to stem the bleeding basically.”
One of the findings includes higher than acceptable levels of arsenic. Mandatory monthly water samples, which are sent off for testing to a laboratory in Odessa that then reports results to TCEQ, have also not been taking place.
As a stopgap measure towards getting Candelaria into compliance, the USB hired interim water operator Jimmy Avila, who is a certified water operator working for the City of Presidio, to make necessary repairs to the system and begin water testing. Avila is being paid to do the work for the next six months thanks to a donation from Marfa resident Neil Chavigny.
Angell said thanks to Avila and Arrowhead Drilling the issue with the pump has been resolved. The next task is to ensure that the chlorinator is working properly, he said. “We’re like 70 percent back to regular functioning status,” Angell said.
Wikar Kadhim, a USB board member representing Ruidosa, is working towards obtaining his water operator certification so that he also can monitor wells. Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District Manager Trey Gerfers said the end goal is for the USB to hire two water operators to handle all four systems for Shafter, Ruidosa, Redford and Candelaria, possibly taking on administrative tasks like billing.
Hisler said the mess of Candelaria’s public water supply system went beyond broken pumps and a lack of water testing. With only one living member left, a board for the water supply had to be reformed so that they could access their bank account and pay bills.
The USB is also working with Water Finance Exchange to assess the public water supply’s finances to ensure they are operating sustainably. The City of Presidio’s decommissioned water meters, which are still operational, are being given to Candelaria and Ruidosa at no charge so they can update meters to ensure they are getting accurate readings.
“Once we get all that done, Candellaria should be in great shape into the future,” Hisler said. She said it is likely that water fees for Candelaria residents will increase in the future.
Gerfers said, so far, the community-driven model of the USB is working well. “This was the idea all along, to get these communities helping each other, working with each other, because they’re all facing similar problems,” Gerfers said. “They’re all very under-resourced, and so why not be helping each other?”
Hisler said the USB’s work to ensure all county residents have safe driving water is rewarding and agreed the board has come together in a “simpatico way.”
Angell expressed gratitude towards Gerfers, Hisler and Judge Joe Portillo for seeing the initiative through. “Both Deirdre and Portillo, prior to being elected, they both said, ‘If I get elected, can you help?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely’,” Angell said. “I appreciate the fact that, here you have two officials that, before they were even elected, made promises and they followed through with them.”