Public Works Director Ken Gill appeared on the City of Victoria’s Town Talk podcast to discuss the complex and often-overlooked process of getting water to residents’ faucets.
Gill has worked in the City’s Engineering and Public Works departments for more than 30 years, with job duties ranging from streets to sewers.
In spite of his role’s impact on people’s daily lives, Gill noted that many residents don’t give much thought to utilities—and that’s a good thing.
“I want you to take us for granted,” Gill said. “That means I’ve done a great job. Every light you made, your water worked, your toilet flushed—it’s great.”
This invisibility was displayed (or, rather, not displayed) a few weeks ago when the City’s water treatment operations were shut down by a faulty disinfectant pipe. With no clean water except what was already in the towers, crews worked through the night and into the early morning hours to get production back online before the water ran out.
Thanks to the crews’ hard work, the City never lost water service and there was no impact to the residents.
“We were pumping water at five o’clock in the morning, before that rush [starting at 6 a.m.],” Gill said. “The best part about it was nobody knew [what had happened] except the people that were involved.”
As someone who was working for the City during the switch to river water, Gill remembers the challenges of treating groundwater to remove unpleasant tastes and smells, but he acknowledged that as water becomes more scarce, the City could return to groundwater or even rely on multiple sources to meet demand.
“We’re looking at alternatives now because … when we went from groundwater to surface water, it was a 10- to 15-year process,” Gill said. “We’re looking at, where do we want to be in 10 years?”
To learn more, watch or listen to the latest episode of Town Talk on YouTube at Victoria Texas Videos or on Spotify at Town Talk (City of Victoria).