Hennessey Public Works employees Brian Henderson and Kyle Watkins addressed the Town Council at Thursday’s meeting and started with, “We have a real problem at the RO”. The “RO” is The Hennessey Reverse Osmosis water plant that treats well water and removes nitrates before the water enters the public water system. Watkins and Henderson told the board that a while ago there was a leak under the plant building that washed out the footing under the building. This weakened the floor and now one of the two treatment systems is tilted due to the uneven floor. The board was told that this RO system has been shut down because it may cause more damage if it tips anymore. The estimated cost to repair this is about $500,000. Mayor Bert Gritz asked Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman could she find a way to come up with this much money? Her response was, “I sure will try!” During the winter months the system can run on only one of the RO units. The problem is when everyone starts watering their yards the water use goes way up requiring them to process much more water.
