County moving forward with plan to provide water service in Far East EP colonia
El Paso County is looking to bring water service to one of the last big colonias still without it. Hillcrest Heights and Hillcrest Center are plots of land out near Zaragoza Road and Montana Avenue in far east El Paso. People have lived there since the 1950’s and they’re still without water, sewage and roads.
The Texas secretary of state defines a colonia as “A residential area along the Texas-Mexico border that may lack some of the most basic living necessities.”
“No roads, no water, no sewer,” said Public Works Director Pat Adauto. “And so this is one of the long-term colonia developments that the county’s trying to get infrastructure to.”
Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to apply for a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture for $8.8 million needed to bring water to the Hillcrest areas. If approved, work could begin by 2018.
That’s good news for people like Guadalupe Diaz, who has lived in the Hillcrest area for 27 years.
“This morning all of you took a shower, right?” Diaz said while addressing commissioners Monday morning. “And it was relaxing, it was pleasant? For us in this area, every time we take a shower we have to think if we’re going to complete our shower. Because we don’t know if water from our tank is running out or not.”
“It’s unfortunate that in today’s society and in the year 2016, there are still places in the United States of America where people don’t have access to drinking water,” said Commissioner Vince Perez (D).
Perez represents Precinct 3, covering most of the unincorporated areas of El Paso County. He and the rest of commissioners court have been putting a greater focus on infrastructure overall in the outlying areas of the county. Many of those formerly desert areas have been growing rapidly in recent years.
“We’re at a pivotal moment in our county’s history where our county is becoming more urbanized than it ever has been before,” Perez said. “There are parts of the county where it seems seamless from the city of El Paso. When you drive down Loop 375 and you look to the left and you look to the right, you’ll see homes. But the difference is that the left is city of El Paso, and on the right there is no city, there’s no mayor or city council. It’s an unincorporated area where the county is responsible for things like roads and signage.”
