All elements of the major water system expansion projects started in 2009 are now in service delivering water to customers in the San Patricio Municipal Water District service area.

For the first time residents of Odem, Taft, Portland and Rincon Water Supply Corp. are receiving drinking water produced at the Water District's treatment complex located between Gregory and Ingleside. Previously they were supplied from Corpus Christi's water treatment plant via a 24-inch steel transmission line installed in 1952 by Reynolds Metals and later acquired by the Water District. Customers of the Seaboard Water Supply Corp. will continue to get water from this line which now serves as a system backup.

The expansion program addressed treatment capacity, storage, pumping, transmission and system reliability. Water treatment capacity has been increased by 4 million gallons per day, operational flexibility has been enhanced and equipment that had been in service for decades has been replaced.

The District's treatment plants A & C now have the peak capacity to produce 25 million gallons per day. Plant B, which produces industrial treated water, has a capacity of six million gallons per day. The District currently has the peak pumping capacity to deliver 29 million gallons per day to the Naismith Reservoir which feeds the treatment complex.

The final component of the overall expansion program was a 10-mile section of 12-inch transmission pipeline connecting the Odem area to the District treatment plant complex. The contractor ran behind schedule on this $1.6 million project and it went into service several months later than originally expected.

The new west transmission system includes a two-million gallon storage tank west of Portland, a pump station with auxiliary power and 14 miles of new pipelines. They are all connected to the District's central control room by fiber option cables and by radio control equipment.

In March and April, the Board of Directors authorized final payments on plant expansion, rehabilitation projects and for Plant C microfiltration modules.

(Update: In June 2012 the Board authorized final payments and acceptance of the 12-inch transmission line serving the Odem area.)