Nearly $1 million more is headed to Southeast Texas for Tropical Storm Harvey disaster recovery projects.
The Texas Water Development Board on Friday approved loan forgiveness of $500,000 for the city of Bevil Oaks and $438,000 for Hardin County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1.
Bevil Oaks' money will be used to restore operations to two lift stations and elevate "critical electrical and control equipment that was destroyed during the hurricane," according to the water development board.
Lift stations are use to move wastewater from lower to higher elevations without using gravity.
Bevil Oaks officials were not available Friday to give more information about the project.
The money for Hardin County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 will replace electrical control panels and restore the wastewater system that was damaged during Harvey.
District board president Jack Maddox said that prior to Harvey the wastewater system had two working air compressors, which drive the treatment process forward. Both of those went under water during the storm. One was replaced, but the second will need to be replaced to bring operations back to a pre-Harvey operational level.
Additionally, many of the systems automatic controls don't work the way they did prior to Harvey and the wastewater system's generators need to be replaced.
"We would have had to take this project on, but it would have been passed on through extra taxes" without money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the water development board, Maddox said.
The water development board is a state agency that collects and disseminates water-related data, helps with regional planning and prepares the state's water plan for the development of the state's water resources. It also administers cost-effective financial assistance programs for the construction of water supply, wastewater treatment, flood control and agricultural water conservation projects.