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Investigative Report: Hamilton Well vs. New Well Mystery Explained
- Stevie Quilo
- 12 minutes ago
- 9 min read
After months of inquiry, answers have finally been uncovered about the Del Rio municipal water well debate. The city is taking strides to solve the water crisis quickly, however, their plan of action has been questioned. Connect Del Rio has followed the story since first hearing Ronda Hargrove raise citizen concerns to City Council in February 2025… Why is the city taking on debt to construct a new $12.8 million-dollar well instead of utilizing the existing city-owned Hamilton Well?
With the cooperation of city officials and private landowners, Connect Del Rio has compiled substantial evidence to explain the mystery behind it all. Looming water rate increases, litigation over water rights, and highly disputed biological testing loopholes are addressed.
Six main factors were identified by Connect Del Rio, as hinge-points in the decision-making process. Considerations cover everything from overhead costs to e-coli. Biological Testing Code Requirements, Well Site Sanitation, Proximity to Existing Infrastructure, Construction Costs, Groundwater Access Location/Depth, and Water Rights Ownership Considerations.
A follow-up article will go in depth on explanations of legal codes and laboratory analysis, but all information included in the below summary was drawn directly from primary interviews, public meetings, record requests, laboratory reports, and state legislation.
The proposed new water well discussion finally came to a head during the Southwest Water Coalition (SWC) meeting on April 25. Pressured to provide comment on the subject, City Manager Shawna Burkhart addressed the concerned room of SWC stakeholders. In terms of financing, Burkhart said, “rough picture, we have 22 million dollars of 3 top water issues… the second well is a priority, the next priority is the East Springs wall rehabilitation and/or reconstruction… the 3rd one is the water treatment plant filtration system.”
Burkhart elaborated with a metaphor: “Yes it is important to do all these projects, but please understand when you get a mortgage, you have to pay your mortgage, when you get a loan, you have to pay your loan. And there is no way to do that except through water rates… When you have 22 million dollars of water issues, and you have 28 million dollars of Silverlake sewer line issues… that’s 52 million dollars.”
The 52 million dollars of impending city debt will need to be repaid. Increasing costs of water and sewer service rates for Del Rio residents is inevitable. The goal is to minimize debt and therefore minimize costs shouldered by citizens. Burkhart said, “we are doing everything in our power to get the best deal, the most efficient timing.” No matter what solution is pursued, Del Rio will have to take on significant debt to solve the water crisis. City officials have already value-engineered several million dollars off the original budget and are pursuing the lowest interest-rate loans available, according to financial presentations provided at City Council. But is it enough?
Hargrove believes the $12.8 million-dollar price tag attached to the new well is exorbitant, she made claims it should only cost $1-3 million for such a construction project. Burkhart retorted, “drilling a well is not what it takes to put in a well… it is one function of about 20 functions that have to be done, and that entire amount covers all 20 functions.” The $12.8 million includes land surveys, biological testing, engineering, TCEQ coordination, main line connection, etc.
An undeniable truth is, Del Rio needs a secondary water source, the existing supply does not provide enough waterflow to accommodate local population growth. The city must pursue the fastest, cheapest solution to provide a sustainable future for the Del Rio public water supply. The obvious choice would seem to be, use what we have and make it work... But the city chose new construction instead.
Hargrove insisted: Why not Hamilton or Agarita? The City of Del Rio has two existing wells that are inactive. The Agarita Well was decommissioned after bacterial contamination many years ago, and the Hamilton Well is nearly 20 years old but was never used. The city could theoretically clean them out, hook them up, and be good to go. Unfortunately, the solution is not that simple.
The Hamilton Well has an interesting history. More than two decades ago, the City of Del Rio purchased private ranch land from the Hamilton family to dig a municipal well. Only upon construction completion, did the city come to understand critical fine print in the Hamilton contract. Water rights were excluded from the land purchase agreement. Without water rights, the city owned the well but not the water inside. Litigation ensued; the Hamiltons won. Both parties agree on this version of the story, as confirmed by several past/present city officials, and Ping Gough, the Water Rights Broker representing the Hamiltons.
Ping Gough offered to sell Del Rio the water, but negotiations failed, and the well was never used. Years later, in 2022, the Hamilton Well was brought up again for reconsideration. By this time, state legislation for sanitation standards had evolved. Stricter health and safety regulations were put in place. Details examining legal requirements and their implications will be provided in a follow-up article.
Hargrove made an open records request mid-February. Records received included biological testing results, billing statements, and consultant summaries. Connect Del Rio called the testing facility, PCS Laboratories, and was able to confirm test sample validity. Evidence proved, that Hamilton Well tested positive for e-coli, coliform, nitrates, and dissolved solids in 2023. But Hargrove asserted, “the well was not tested to TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) standards for a municipal well, it was tested one time, the pump inside the well was not run for 5 days… the city paid for 24 hours… the well was not properly tested at that time.”
Hargrove technically was right, the full rigamarole of testing required for regular municipal use, was not done. However, Public Works Director Greg Velazquez explained that the Hamilton Well was evaluated in 2023 for potential emergency-use, not regular municipal-use, which has different testing requirements. Hearsay suggests a few city officials may have misspoke, and triggered confusion, when they falsely claimed the Hamilton Well biological test results prove it cannot be used as a municipal well. The only thing proved by the test results is that, after a 24-hour clean and flush, the water was still contaminated.
What if the well was cleaned and flushed for longer? It has been sitting inactive for over a decade… maybe after a longer sanitation process, the well would prove clean? Regular municipal-use testing is a more extensive process than emergency-use testing, it requires longer-term probing and additional studies, such as a rain event runoff study. Both processes do require a complete chlorine flush. Only when there is no more trace of chlorine in the water, is the sample considered valid. The chlorine acts as a control, to show that all preexisting stagnant water has been pumped out of the well, and only fresh ground water is being sampled. Hamilton Well test results showed 0% chlorine content.
Groundwater Under the Influence (of surface water), a GUI designation, refers to groundwater that has a significant hydraulic connection to surface water and is therefore more susceptible to contamination. More than $30,000 was spent on repairing, cleaning, and evaluating the Hamilton Well from 2022 to 2023. Invoices from Advanced Water Well Technologies show the well was brushed clean for 9 man-hours, disinfected with 9000 gallons of chlorine, and sediment sufficiently jetted out.
In 2023, consultants provided the following statement to the city regarding Hamilton Well testing: “We installed continuous monitoring probes at three depths in the well about 6 months ago to observe possible turbidity or other water quality shifts indicative of GUI influence after rain events, but no significant rain events have occurred during this time, so no meaningful data has been collected. The probes are now being removed for use elsewhere by the city. It is reasonable to still assume that Hamilton is likely GUI, being relatively near to the Agarita well and being developed in the same geologic formations. Therefore, Hamilton provides no additional advantages that the city does not already have at Agarita, with no water purchase costs or transmission costs needed at Agarita. The Hamilton well should therefore currently be considered unviable.”
Strong assumptions can be drawn from the test results, but according to TCEQ standards, the tests are not considered hard proof that the well is “unviable” for regular municipal-use. If the city really wanted to consider the Hamilton Well for regular municipal-use, they would have needed to abide by the highest extent of the code and pumped the well for 36 hours before collecting samples. But the invoice from Hinds Well Service shows the pump reel and generator was only rented for 24 hours, which included delivery, set up, and retrieval time, so pumping likely took place for less than one-day.
Texas Water Code 290.41 says: “Before placing the well into service, a public water system shall furnish a copy of the well completion data, which includes… the results of a 36-hour pump test.” The point may be moot, because the same Texas Code says: “Groundwater sources shall be located so that there will be no danger of pollution from flooding or from unsanitary surroundings, such as privies, sewage, sewage treatment plants, livestock and animal pens…” Fact is, the Hamilton Well is located on century-old ranch land that has been saturated with livestock manure for over 100 years. It is assumed the e-coli and other contaminants are related to manure runoff. Even if the livestock is contained away from the well site, the runoff could still leach through. And the risk is heightened after heavy rain events.
When evaluating the Hamilton Well, the city may have skirted through some loopholes, but did not break the law. But when it comes time for the city to evaluate the new well they plan to construct, the city will be legally obligated to complete the 36-hour pump test. Texas Code says, “A complete physical and chemical analysis of the water produced from a new well shall be made after 36 hours of continuous pumping at the design withdrawal rate.”
The city has proposed the new well site to be located on city-owned property, adjacent to the San Felipe Springs Golf Course. Their decision is based on location. Proximity to existing water pump backup generators, proximity to existing water treatment plants, proximity to main city water line… There is a mass of infrastructure already there at the East Springs, aiding ease of access. The golf course is as close as the city can get to the treatment plant. The spring has been protected there for over a century, the water is crystal clear, and so pure it appears potable straight from the creek.
If the city wanted to connect the Hamilton Well as a primary municipal water source, huge additional investment would have to be made for system integration. The Hamilton Well would even require its own sanitation plant, due to its difference in “chemical makeup” from the creek water currently treated at the East Springs treatment plant. Burkhart said different water types cannot be mixed within the treatment plant, “it cannot be treated at our current plant.” Conversely, the new proposed well sources water of the same chemical makeup currently being treated at existing plants.
So, even if the Hamilton Well were reevaluated, again, and tests came back negative for contaminants, it still would not be considered a viable source, due to the lack of appropriate sanitation and transmission infrastructure at the site. Rehabbing the Hamilton Well may look cheaper from the outside, but when considering all the additional infrastructure construction that would be required to connect it as a main municipal water source, the budget gets blown out of the water. Basic on-site chlorination is no longer up to state standards. City officials say, a whole new water treatment facility would be needed.
Burkhart concluded with an update on the timeline. She said the utility rates study is already underway, a specialist has been contracted. Burkhart said, “all numbers were given to him last Friday and we hope to have numbers next month.” Hargrove expressed her concerns about increasing water rates, “our water bill now is $2,800 a month, if you go up 3x we will be closing that business…” Regardless of cost concerns, the city needs more water, and the new well project is moving full steam ahead. Burkhart thinks the city could receive funding as soon as October 2025.
Out of the six main deciding factors identified by Connect Del Rio’s investigation, we have presented four in-depth so far: Biological Testing Code Requirements, Well Site Sanitation Considerations, Proximity to Existing Infrastructure, and Cost Considerations. The biggest red flag was a century’s worth of cow manure build-up in the ground around the Hamilton Well.
A deeper look into the remaining two factors will be provided in a follow-up article: Groundwater access location/depth per conservation standards, and water rights ownership considerations as far as bid-process for purchasing water from a non-government entity. More information on the cost calculations, financial analysis, relevant state standards, and code compliance will also be provided in a follow-up article. Subscribe to Connect Del Rio to follow the story as it continues to unfold.
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