Kevin O’Connor Kommentary September 22

United Way of the Brazos Valley Update with Partner Agency OnRamp

WTAW’s Chelsea Reber visits with Peggi Ondrasek, President/CEO of United Way of the Brazos Valley, and Blake Jennings, Found/President of OnRamp during this week’s UWBV update. Listen to “United Way of the Brazos Valley Update with Partner Agency OnRamp” on Spreaker.

View College Station Capital Improvement Projects with Interactive Map

The College Station City Council recently received its bi-annual capital improvement projects update from Jennifer Cain, Capital Projects Director. There are about 90 active capital projects in the City of College Station, and you can find more information on most of them by using an interactive online map. “You can sort if you want to look at all the parks projects, all the streets projects. You can zoom in on the map and see the streets,” said Cain. Cain said clicking on the icon will give you more details about the project. “It will give you the project name, a short description of what it is, a high-level budget estimate and a project timeline,” said Cain. Cain said you will also be able to access the project manager’s information. “That’s probably the most important part because if you have more questions other than what we’ve got in that little snippet, you can reach out to the project manager and ask more detailed questions,” said Cain. CLICK here to view the map.

College Station City Council Approves $240,000 Contract to Study Groundwater

The College Station city council unanimously approved a $240,000 contract to study groundwater at their last meeting. Steven Maldonado, Water Department Assistant Director, says the study is due to concerns about the future availability of water in our area. “As water potentially gets moved out of our area, there will be impacts to our wells and to our well field. What this contract will do, we’ll go through scenarios and start ramping up numbers. Depends on how much gets withdrawn from the area and how much impact that would be,” said Maldonado. Maldonado says six scenarios will be tested to see the impact on the wells. “Look at what that would do to our existing wells, to future wells, to our rates,” said Maldonado. Three new water wells are planned for the City of College Station in 2028. The budget for the design and construction of wells 10, 11, and 12 is $68.7 million. Click below to hear discussion of the new water wells and the groundwater study during the College Station City Council Meeting: CapitalProjectsUpdate_JenniferCain_AndOthers