The Oaks Water Supply Corporation History

The Oaks Water Supply Corporation is a non-profit, member-owned co-op providing residential water services for the Scenic Oaks and Country Estates subdivisions. The primary requirements for membership are property ownership and responsibility for the payment of water services to the owned property. Homebuilders, developers, and lienholders are not eligible for membership.

Governance and Meetings

TOWSC is managed by a board of Directors elected by the membership. The board consists of five directors who serve without compensation. The board meets monthly, typically on the third Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the TOWSC office located at 26058 Hazy Hollow Dr., just inside the Scenic Oaks security gate. All members are welcome at these meetings. An annual meeting is held on the fourth Monday of March in the SOPOA building at the subdivision entry. Directors are elected at this annual meeting, and members vote on other necessary issues.

Service Area and History

TOWSC serves 391 connections in the Scenic Oaks and Country Estates subdivisions in northern Bexar County. Development of the Scenic Oaks subdivision began in 1978, with Country Estates following around 1996. In 1978, the area was rural, with no water resources other than groundwater. Water was supplied by the developer-owned Scenic Oaks Water Supply Corporation (SOWSC) from 1979 until 1993, when SOWSC was placed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After the IRS rejected the proposed recovery plan, the court placed SOWSC in Chapter 7 liquidation.

Formation of TOWSC

TOWSC and two other entities submitted bids, with TOWSC being the successful bidder with a $120,000 bid. However, we also accrued $51,000 in legal fees dealing with developer bankruptcy, rate increases, the Resolution Trust Corporation, and the bankruptcy court process. Accordingly, we started TOWSC with a $150,000 bank loan, $21,000 owed to attorneys, and no money in the corporate checking account. Our initial total corporate value was $130,748 but has since grown into our current corporate asset value, $2,008,195. We made no change in initial water rates except to implement a temporary surcharge of $20 per connection for debt retirement and potential unknown problems. We obtained a loan from the Community Resource Group Inc. in 1994, which was used to retire the personally guaranteed bank loan. That loan also had better terms and was retired in 2001.

Contractors and Staff Operations

From October 1993 to August 2006, a contractor operated the system, providing daily maintenance and service, and was responsible for reading meters, billing customers, providing reports to TCEQ and the board, and responding to customer inquiries and complaints. Effective September 1, 2006, the board hired its own staff to operate the system. The staff is responsible for all company operations, including limited maintenance. Maintenance beyond the staff’s capability, primarily that requiring extra manpower or equipment, is still accomplished by contract.

Improvements and Expansions

Since acquiring the system, we have made several additions and improvements and continue to do so. Initially, the system had four operating wells and two booster stations with storage tanks, all requiring significant deferred maintenance.
  • 1995
    We purchased a large, unused lot for future expansion, already containing one of our wells.
  • 1996-1997
    The development of the Country Estates subdivision was completed in 1996, and ownership of its water system was transferred from the developer to TOWSC in 1997.
  • 2000
    We drilled three new wells to combat drought threats, initially connected directly to the distribution system.
  • 2002
    We submitted a loan application to TWDB for additional water lines, feeding output from new wells directly to a new storage tank built under a USDA loan.
  • 2003-2004
    Received a USDA/RUS loan for a booster station, storage tank, upgrade of an existing storage tank, office building construction, and replacement of a deficient water line.
With extended loan application time, the eventual cost of the USDA project increased to the extent we no longer had funds for an office/storage building. Using our own funds and volunteer labor from members, we constructed the building in 2005.

On-Site Facilities and Infrastructure

When we acquired the system, each operating location was enclosed by six-foot chain link fences with barbed wire on top. Besides being unsightly in a residential neighborhood, the fences were also in very poor condition. All of our facilities are now enclosed by full masonry fences. We replaced them as we could afford to do so and used masonry for all new construction.
  • 2005
    We were having overheating problems and fire danger from inadequate wiring, so we completely rewired the electrical systems in the older booster stations in 2005. We also replaced rotting window and door frames in these buildings. The original builder had placed chlorination equipment inside the buildings, causing the wood and doors around them to rot. We removed the chlorinators from these buildings and placed them in separate fiberglass structures. One building had a failing roof, which we also completely replaced. All of the labor, except for electrical wiring, was provided by board members.
  • 2006
    In 2006, we installed pressure transducers in all eight of our wells. These transducers enabled us to continuously monitor the water level in our wells. This capability is critical during extended droughts. To support the assumption of system operation and maintenance, we also made major equipment purchases. These were primarily a new pickup truck, a backhoe, and office equipment.
  • 2010
    In 2010, we acquired and installed a large emergency backup generator, which enables us to continue supplying water when the primary electrical power fails.
  • 2011-2012
    In early 2011, we completed the installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. This system provides complete computer control of our system functions and complete data for monitoring and managing our system. The continuing drought of 2011 placed our groundwater supply in jeopardy. In July, the board of directors began investigating any possible means to provide a reliable way to augment our water supply. By summer’s end, all of our wells were pumping down to the well bottom, and some were beginning to pump air. We had already prohibited all use of any sprinkler equipment for lawn irrigation. Many members lost major amounts of landscaping. The experts forecasted little, if any, aquifer recovery before the summer of 2012 or later. We did not believe we could survive another summer under these conditions. Accordingly, we convened a special meeting with all members in September of 2011, reviewed all possible options, and proposed acquiring water from the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) as a wholesale customer since we had already ascertained that SAWS was willing to supply the water. This option was made possible by SAWS’ recent construction of a 30-inch line to bring water from Canyon Lake, which passes directly in front of our subdivisions. We completed the approval process with SAWS and completed all mechanical aspects of the project on February 13, 2012. We completed installing the electronic controls (SCADA) and programming on February 20, 2012 and became fully operational on that date. The total cost was about $520,000, of which $368,550 is the SAWS impact fee for a 6-inch tap. This project was funded from existing funds and a one-time assessment of $1,189 per connection. In February of 2011, in pursuit of a goal we had been working toward for many years, we requested a special TCEQ sanitary control inspection to determine eligibility for a SUPERIOR WATER SYSTEM rating, which is awarded to only a small percentage of Texas water companies. That inspection resulted in a recommendation that a SUPERIOR rating be approved. After a long wait, we were advised that our SUPERIOR rating had been approved, and the formal notification was received on February 20, 2012.
  • 2016
    In 2016, we replaced the original storage tank at Barn Owl with a new tank. The original galvanized tank had accumulated significant deterioration. We have added a larger pressure tank at the Country Estates pump station to improve system capability. We also added two new pressure reduction stations below the Mountain Top pump station to improve distribution and control in that part of the system.