At the monthly Board meeting of the Brown County Water Improvement District #1, it was announced that the District has completed a helicopter landing pad near the dam.  Until now, when medical emergencies in the lake area required air transportation, the medical helicopters had to land in a field, often necessitating help from the nearest volunteer fire department.  They can now land on the pad without help on the ground, saving time.  The pad is lighted, allowing for night landings also.  The landing pad was built by the District’s Maintenance Department, headed by Dale Weaver.

The Board also announced that beginning September 1, the District will start the process of removing docks that are not in compliance with the lake’s encapsulated float requirement.  In 2009 the BCWID adopted a policy requiring all docks to use only encapsulated floats.  Dock owners were given ten years to comply.  Being more than one year beyond the compliance deadline, the District decided it is time to begin removing the non-compliant docks from the lake.

In other business:

***  The Board discussed the efforts to ensure electrical power at all times to the water treatment plant.  The severe freeze in February of this year caused the plant to lose power for several hours and was unable to treat and ship water to Brownwood and other area towns.  Emergency generators costing $2.7 million are one answer.  The District hopes that some of that cost could be covered by funds from Brown County as part of the American Rescue Plan, but the County has not yet finalized their distribution plan for those funds.

Another answer would be an automatic switch from Oncor Electric.  Currently the treatment plant has electrical service feeds from two different grids.  If the power on one grid goes down, the auto-switch would furnish power from the other grid.  The District is still waiting on a cost estimate from Oncor on this option.

***  District General Manager John Allen reported that they are continuing to work with the engineering firm of Freese and Nichols on equipment to keep zebra mussels out of the District’s intake pipes and equipment.  No final design or cost as yet.

***  Lake Patrol Chief Mark Davis reported that he has received a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the removal of 50 turkey vultures and 70 black vultures from the dam area.  The vultures have taken up residence near the dam and are causing thousands of dollars of damages to property and equipment, as well as creating a health hazard.

Also Davis said that he has applied for a $50,000 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority for a new patrol boat.