I wanted to share some highlights of the progress we are making with Arlington being the primary source for drinking water as well as taking over the billing process for the city of Kennedale. As many of you know there have been some hurdles and setbacks along the way however Craig Cummings, the Director of Water Utilities for the City of Arlington, believes we are on the downhill slope in the completion of this process. Here are some bullet points as to where we stand today.
• 100% of Kennedale water customers have an account in the billing software utilized by the City of Arlington
• “mock” billings have begun to take place behind the scenes in order to assure accurate billing with no issues once the billing goes “live”
• January 1st, 2021 is the target date for live billing to begin through AWU (Arlington Water Utilities)
• 5 functional interconnects between the 2 systems have already been completed.
• Approval from the TCEQ to approve the supply of approximately 92% of the drinking water for Kennedale is expected in early 2021 (Phase II of the plan)
o This will allow the wells to be turned off generating a cost savings to Kennedale
o We will continue purchasing a minimal amount of water from Ft Worth until our obligation with them is completed
o Pump station upgrades on the Arlington side (which are already underway) must be completed
o Repairs to a ground storage tank in Kennedale must also be completed
o Phase II can be implemented once the repairs and upgrades are finished and approval from TCEQ is granted.
This is great news for the City of Kennedale and would not have been possible without the collaboration of AWU, countless leaders within the City of Arlington, George Campbell, The Arlington City Council, The Kennedale City Council, and the many employees of both cities working together.
