The council applied for and won a grant earlier this year from the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to construct a rainwater collection system on city grounds. The town history of collaborating with nature helped attract the judges favor for the grant; the town’s activities include a honey bee and butterfly garden at City Hall, organizing litter pick up days, approving an awareness month for monarch butterfly migrations, and Mayor Sandy Roberts making hundreds of wildflower seed balls for the public to disperse.
Enthusiasm soared at the July council meeting when word of the rainwater collection system was a “go.”
“This is a win, win, win. I am super excited,” Council member Kent Stasey said at the meeting. “This is not only going to be useful, but it will be a tremendous teaching tool.”
“And it won’t cost the citizens a dime,” Mayor Sandy Roberts added.
The system is now functional and awaiting fall showers.
The main collection occurs with a 20-inch-deep French drain encircling the city’s maintenance barn and running to a 20,000 gallon collection tank on the south side of City Hall. The water will be used to fill fire engine water tanks from Parker County Emergency District 1 Station 37 located across the street, and for cleaning city equipment. However, the council members are most excited about using the rainwater collection station as a conservation education tool for AISD students to study.
Ken Davis, owner of Rain Ranchers Company, said the idea of using rainwater is as simple as collecting rain in a bucket. However, the systems his company installs throughout Texas and southern Oklahoma can be used on a large scale to even water great herds of cattle or provide water for homes.
“A rancher is a steward of the land, and we are stewards of the rain,” Davis said of his company name. “Collecting rainwater was essential back in the day for our forefathers and now we steward water for conservation.”
Davis is joined by his son-in-law, Brad Wolf. Crew member Andres Valdez, a 2017 Aledo High School graduate and former member of the Bearcat basketball team, has special interest in the Annetta project.
The council discussed the successful outcome of a difficult and urgent situation after a wastewater pump went out in one area of town. The pump station, located near the northeast section of Split Rail Golf, moves wastewater from residents in the lowest elevation of Annetta to the Annetta Deer Creek Wastewater Station. The problem was fixed quickly enough to not cause problems for residents and the council decided to install a larger backup pump.
“These are expensive, specialized pumps. We’re fixing the problem we had and taking action to make the system better than it was,” Stasey said.
Another problem in the city is in the process of being corrected. Roberts and City Secretary Jamee Long described street and utility damages incurred from utility companies working in Annetta and surrounding towns. The companies met with council members and agreed to pay for the repairs.
Rather than giving the companies multiple locations to examine, Long said she drove them around the city and pointed out the problems. Long said two companies are to pay an estimated $32,000 each for the repairs.
In closing, the council approved a proclamation to recognize Oct. 5 as World Teachers’ Day. World Teachers’ Day dates to 1966 when the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization established an annual international conference of teachers in Paris, France. World Teachers’ Day was first celebrated on October 5, 1994, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of that 1966 conference.
Mayor Roberts encourages residents to thank a favorite teacher and display blue ribbons in support of the day.
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