DeBerry Water Update: Good News and an Urgent Request

Yesterday was a great day, and also a disappointing one. Let's start with the good news.

Two new wells approved. Last night, the Panola County Groundwater Conservation District voted to approve DeBerry Water drilling two new wells. For more than a decade, this system has known it needed new wells, and it never happened. Even finding a place to put them was a fight. We were told no by landowners time and time again, until we finally found two gracious families who said yes because they knew this community needed it. We are deeply thankful to them. Seeing our name on the agenda last night and watching this plan come together was a moment of real joy.

These wells will be paid for with help from the Sabine River Authority and our USDA grant. We had to fight for those grants. We had to complete audits just to be eligible to apply. Our engineer has spent countless hours on them and has not been paid a dime yet. Grant work is hard, and with the growing need for water improvements across Texas, the competition is stiff.

This is real progress, and we're proud of it. But two new wells are a beginning, not a finish line.

Now the disappointing part. Yesterday, two employees from Communities Unlimited drove in from Waco and Abilene to go door to door collecting income survey responses. After more than two and a half hours, only one household agreed to respond.

To the roughly 75 households who have already turned in a survey: thank you. We are so grateful. But we need more of you.

Why this matters. Without grants, the only ways we can raise money are rate increases or loans, and loans also require rate increases to pay them back. Just last week, we blew a hole in our pressure tank, two pumps stopped working, and a major valve at the pumphouse started leaking. Today we're repairing three leaks, and one of those repairs will likely run into the night. That leak is on a line bored under the road, and the bore was installed so small and undersized that the repair is taking much longer than normal. We have also had to pull and rehab three of our existing wells just to keep the water flowing. Two years ago, Texas Rural Water told us this entire system, from tanks to pumps to wells to lines, needs to be replaced. Very little has ever been upgraded, and what has been was often done cheaply and isn't holding. We cannot improve this system if all we can afford is fixing what breaks, and making small upgrades a little at a time would take decades.

If you have any doubt about the condition of this system, you don't have to take our word for it. We photograph every repair we make, and we're happy to share those pictures with any member who wants to see them.

There is a real plan to get us where we need to be. If our engineer agrees to move forward, our next grant application will cover a new pumphouse, one more well, a line upgrade, and well filters. After that, the only major work left to fund is additional line upgrades, and that is doable. For the first time, there's a clear path to a reliable system. But we can't get there on hard work and good intentions alone. We have to win these grants, and that starts with this survey.

There are more than 250 water supply corporations in the same shoes as us competing for the same grants. Many of them have up-to-date household income data. It's one thing not to be chosen. It's another to wonder whether we weren't chosen because our median household income figure isn't accurate. It may be close; we honestly don't know. That's all we're asking: help us find out.

About the warning at the bottom of the form. Some people declined yesterday because of the notice about false information. Please don't let that stop you. Communities Unlimited told us directly that the notice is aimed at them, the approved surveyor. They are the ones putting their names on these surveys, and they are the ones responsible for making sure the results are never made up or filled in without a real response from a real household.

You are not signing anything. You are not even asked for your name. The survey asks for only three things: your address, your household income, and how many people live there. You don't need to pull your tax returns. Your honest best estimate is exactly what they're asking for. Mine wasn't exact to the dollar either. The only thing they ask is that you don't deliberately give a number that's way off, like writing $2,000 when your household makes $100,000.

An honest answer is all we need, and there is nothing to worry about in giving one.

What happens next. I turned in the envelopes I had to Communities Unlimited last night, and they'll let me know the updated total. Our engineer needed our median income number this week to decide whether to apply for the next grant round. I'm calling today to ask for more time, because I believe there are enough people in this community who see what we're trying to do, not just for you, but for your children and grandchildren who may want to live here someday.

An accurate survey doesn't guarantee we'll be chosen, but it gives us a much better shot. And no engineer will keep applying on our behalf, doing environmental studies and chasing multiple state approvals without being paid, if we're never chosen.

How to participate:

• Need a survey form? Let us know and we'll get you one.
• Or simply text Kayley at 479-595-5077 with three things: your address, your household income, and the total number of people living in your household. That's it. Kayley is off for the rest of the week, but she'll see your text on Monday and record it on her spreadsheet, so go ahead and send it now.
• Then please ask your neighbor to do the same.
• If you have already responded or let me know the situation or that you are mailing yours in I have marked that on the address list I have given to Communities Unlimited. Again, there are no names attached just addresses so remember to put your 911 address and not your PO Box. 

Every household counts. If you haven't responded yet, please take two minutes and do it today. If you already have, thank you, and please reach out to one neighbor who hasn't. We've come a long way, but we can't finish this without every one of you.

Thank you for standing with us.

Sara
Board President, DeBerry Water Supply Corporation