NORTHEAST HOUSTON Tasfield residents, public officials, area residents, and others held a breakfast ceremony last Saturday morning at the Northeast Community Center on Bentley. The occasion was to mark the completion of the wastewater project in the nearby Tasfield neighborhood.
This pilot project started in construction in 2006, but the actual planning can be traced back to the beginnings of the East Aldine Management District in 2001, when state representative Kevin Bailey had legislation passed to create the management district, with one of the goals to provide water and sewer to residential areas in Aldine that were not connected to any central system.
This is a pilot project, and there are currently several others, including North Houston Heights, Parkwood Estates, and Inwood Estates. The next project to start construction will be North Houston Heights, when the engineering work is completed and bid are requested. This is scheduled for 2008.
Speakers included public officials representing entities that had helped finance the project. These included County Commissioner Pct. 2 Sylvia Garcia, U.S. Representative Gene Green, and Texas State Representative Kevin Bailey. Also present were board members from the East Aldine Management District, who actually spearheaded the work on this and the other pilot projects.
Two themes were common to the speakers remarks: that this project was a cooperative effort in funding and execution by several public bodies; and that the pilot projects are designed to set an example that can be followed in many other areas of the county, to solve the wastewater and fresh water problems in many neighborhoods.
In Tasfield, it was a unique partnership that brought household sewage treatment to a forgotten Houston neighborhood, according to Garcia. She pointed out that 92 homes in Tasfield were never annexed by the city, and the result is aging septic systems, and sometimes unsanitary living conditions.
It took the collective resolve of the three elected officials Garcia, Green, and Bailey and the East Aldine Management District, to find a solution to this problem.
They found a solution to funding the project in a way that Harris County would not have to enter the wastewater business. Additionally, an agreement with the City of Houston has been worked out, allowing for the new system to be tied into their present facilities.
Using Harris Countys Office of Community and Economic Development as the funding mechanism, the three officials found a way to work within state statutes so that the County could construct the much needed wastewater system using federal grant funds.
The result is a $1.4 million project providing pipes and a lift station to 92 homes which will become a part of the City of Houstons wastewater treatment system.
Streets involved are Nuggent, Three Sisters, and Vivian. Funding sources include: Community Developement Block Grant through HCCEDD, $1,147.743; East Aldine Management District, $171,461; and HCPID/Engineering $99,700.