Travis County commissioners discuss solutions to provide water lines to everyone in the county
LAS LOMITAS, Texas - For years, several families have been living without running water in Eastern Travis County. On Tuesday, Travis County Commissioners discussed possible solutions to provide water lines for every person in the county.
In 2000, Luz Garza moved to the Las Lomitas development excited to get a fresh start in a new home, but she didn't think twice about how her family would get their water. Creedmoor Maha Water Supply is supposed to service Las Lomitas but since Garza’s family moved there, they were told they couldn't be serviced because of the way the water lines were set up in their neighborhood.
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So each Saturday, Garza's husband gets up at 2 or 3 a.m. to fill their thousand-gallon tank.
“He gets a load, comes back, drops it off, he has to wait another two hours in line to get water again because not just one tank fills up one tank for the family,” Garza says.
For their family of five, it takes five tanks to last them for a month.
“If we're sparse with it. Meaning, we don't have showerheads, they shower with a bucket and then just a cup, wash the dishes only with a bucket of water, we don't wash clothes, oh yeah we don’t have a washing or drying machine, we go to the laundromat,” Garza said.
This doesn't include the money they spend on bottled water for cooking and drinking.
“In the wintertime, they don't shower every day, they shower every other day, try not to give the dogs a bath and can't water the plants,” her daughter-in-law Victoria Rosales said.
Garza says it's about 45 families in Las Lomitas and they all agree there's a common denominator on why the water issue has gone on this long.
“They do think they're raising the prices to push them out and make room for the new houses. I think it's discriminating because if it were any other race they would have had running water a long time ago,” Garza said.
She also says the language barrier has prevented many questions from being answered.
On Tuesday morning, Travis County Commissioners discussed possible solutions to this issue.
“And hopefully I think in the future I think if we can keep the lots from being developed legally, that's still the first step and I wish there was a way we could have a foolproof system of being able to address that but I don't know, we have to keep trying,” Commissioner Margaret Gomez with Precinct 4 said. “The families are really excited about this. Actual drinking water.”
Garza says she would rather this happen sooner rather than later since relocation is out of the question for them.
In today's meeting, commissioners discussed a meeting scheduled for Thursday with Creedmoor Maha. One of the things they'll be looking at is where the pipes will be how to reach the lots, especially the ones located further back.
The Travis County Commissioners Court provided this statement: