Carl Craigo and Michele Hagemann present the grant application for the Paul Davis Wellfield.
The city of Midland has applied for a Water Supply and Infrastructure Grant through the Texas Water Development Board. The city is seeking a $21 million grant to build 19 wells at the Paul Davis Wellfield as part of the broader Paul Davis Wellfield Restoration Project.
“(TWDB) received, in House Bill 500, a billion dollars to put out in grants, which is really unheard of,” said the city of Midland’s utilities director Carl Craigo. “They usually do loans or matches, and (by comparison) this is 100% a grant.”
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Craigo said bringing the wells online with the rest of the city’s water system would add 12 million gallons to the system, 10 million of which would be treated. The city has owned the Paul Davis Wellfield for decades, but it has been offline for nearly 11 years. Because of that, treatment is crucial for the water to be used safely by Midlanders. He also said the city has spent $9 million on the project over the past few years.
“This is a good use of resources here,” said Councilman-at-Large John Burkholder. “We have a pre-existing field, and yes we had some issues, but with modern technology we’re in a spot where we can change the quality of the water and get it to where we need very easily, utilizing an asset that we already have. We have two primary sources of water, our CRMWD contract and T-bar. This is giving us our third option, where if something even was to happen, as far as redundancy, we have this extra water now that is going to put us in a better position. This is something that I know a lot of people have looked forward to.”
The grant application was filed by Michele Hagemann, the utilities department’s grant writer. Mayor Lori Blong credited Hagemann with helping increase the number of grants the city has received. Craigo said he hopes to have the wells running as intended by 2030.
“(The utilities department’s) willingness to look into different technologies and (other) out-of-the-box thinking has made some real differences within the city and water system,” said Councilwoman-at-Large Robin Poole.
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Luke Dias is a reporter at the Midland Reporter-Telegram. Dias is from Houston and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications from Trinity University in San Antonio. He also has a master of fine arts degree from Chapman University in Orange County, California. In his free time, Dias enjoys karaoke, video games, exercise and sports. He is an avid traveler and has seen six out of the Seven Wonders of the world.
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