MATHIS, Texas — Since the early 1970's, the City of Mathis has been getting its water from Lake Corpus Christi and that was also the last time work was done to the infrastructure providing neighbors with the water they need.
KRIS 6 News sat down City Manager, Cedric Davis. Since taking his position, Davis said he’s been laser-focused on improving the water quality for every Mathis neighborhood.
"We have ups and downs on pressure and because some of the piping is so old, it's actually enclosed itself in a bit. "When water is not flowing it gets stagnant and that's when you have to do your water boils,” Davis said.
The impact of those water boil notices can be felt by people in several homes and businesses, like Bake-A-Latte.
"It's something we pay attention to because we cook and we make a lot of soups, so we use the water,” business owner April Padrezas said.
Padrezas owns the bakery which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.
"When it happens, I deal with it for the safety of my customers and my business,” Padrezas said.
In learning about the city’s water improvement project, Padrezas said she’s glad city leaders are addressing her concerns by working with city leaders in Corpus Christi to help find a solution.
"It's the big day when they sign an MOU for our GLO project which is about 22 million dollars,” Davis said.
According to Davis, those millions will help replace old piping, install two generators and handle construction at the sewer plant.
Those changes, the city manager believes, will bring other changes.
"With those additional homes, they're going to need additional water because of those additional residents,” Davis said.
There's a plan for that too.
"Planning for the future, that's when the water wells come in,” Davis said.
Mathis city leaders tell me they are hoping to get three grants worth $16 million to take care of other water improvement projects.
