Changes to City's Water Coming this Summer

Since the year 2000, the City of Anna has grown from a population of just over 1,200 people to an estimated 9,360 as of January this year. In 2012 alone, Anna welcomed approximately 1000 new residents. With over 600% growth over the past decade, Anna continues to be among the most rapidly growing cities in Collin County.

Early last decade as Anna began to grow, it became clear that the existing water wells that have served as our sole source of drinking water would not be sufficient to serve our rapidly growing city. Our neighboring communities along U.S. 75 were also experiencing significant growth pressure and began looking for additional sources of water. After evaluating alternatives, the City of Anna partnered with the cities of Melissa, Van Alstyne, and Howe to fund the construction of a large transmission line that would bring treated surface water owned by the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) from McKinney to the participating communities. NTMWD provides drinking water from Lake Lavon to most of the cities in Collin County.

While, construction on the transmission line was completed in 2007, the City has not yet begun adding the surface water to our city water system. However, with the growth that is now occurring in the city, we believe that it will be necessary to begin gradually blending surface water with our existing ground water this summer. The surface water and ground water will be blended in ground storage tanks at four separate locations and then released into the water distribution system. The ground storage tanks located at the NE corner of Sherley Avenue and Fifth Street will be equipped to receive the surface water by early summer. Improvements necessary to introduce surface water into the three remaining ground storage locations will be complete in 2014.

Blending surface water with ground water will require us to change the way we treat our water, and will change the way our water tastes. The difference in taste will probably be more noticeable in the areas closest to the Sherley/Fifth Street ground storage tank. When all the other ground storage tanks have been adapted to blend the surface and ground water, the taste of the water should be relatively uniform throughout the City and will only change as the percentage of surface water in the blend increases or decreases.

Some customers may also notice intermittent changes to water clarity which can happen when water with a different chemical composition is introduced and interacts with the water main lines of an older distribution system. Changes to water clarity will probably be more noticeable in the older areas of Anna where the distribution system is older. Regardless of issues with clarity, the water will remain safe to drink. We expect that any water clarity issues will be temporary and diminish over time.

All utility customers will receive a separate notice before we introduce the blended water into our distribution system. The timing will depend on the precipitation we receive this year and the overall demand for water. Feel free to contact James Parkman, Director of Public Works (972) 924-4510 or email jparkman@annatexas.gov if you have additional questions.

*1st Thursday of each month, join the Chamber for breakfast at 8:00 am at the Chamber office or host location check out website for details.

*3rd Tuesday of each month, join the Chamber for lunch at 12:00 noon. Location varies. Check the website for details www.greaterannachamber.com