OKLAHOMA CITY – Comanche County Rural Water District #2 received a $2.5 million state loan to replace several miles of aged distribution pipes.
Joe Freeman, chief of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s Financial Assistance Division, told the governing board of the state agency that 68,000 linear feet of line – approximately 13 miles of 2-, 4- and 6-inch-diameter pipe – will be replaced.
Office Manager Sue Rizco said the district provides potable water to 763 customer meters via 70 miles of lines. The district was incorporated in 1968 and “we started serving customers in 1970,” she said. “We have some old lines.”
The district’s boundaries start north of Wichita Mountains Estates and extend to Meers Porter Hill Road, including NW McClung Road; east to Porter Hill; south to NW McCracken Road and back west to Allison Road, and north to cover Lakeside Village, Green Meadow Acres, Edgewater Park north and south, to the Comanche/Caddo county line. The district serves the Little Bear Loop on both sides of U.S. 62 in the Richards Spur area south of Porter Hill, Rizco said.
The majority of the area where lines are to be replaced will start at Stoney Point Road from the intersection where NW Tacklebox Road becomes NW McCracken Road, extending north to North Drive, then progressing east to Edgewater Tower, plus one smaller section, Rizco said.
The district office is located near Lake Ellsworth.
RWD #2 sells groundwater pumped from the Rush Springs Aquifer. The district has three wells – two of which are active and a third used as a backup, Rizco said.
The loan from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund will be retired over a maximum period of 30 years, OWRB records indicate. Freeman said the district’s debt coverage ratio is 2.24 times, which means Comanche County RWD #2 has sufficient resources to pay off the $2,545,000 loan two and a quarter times over.