Texas A&M Public Works Response Team Helps Texas Communities Restore Water Service
“When you get up in the morning, turn on the faucet and you’ve got water, that’s a blessing. People don’t realize once that water gets cut off, everyone needs to come together, because every minute that passes matters,” said Ray McKnight, president of the board of Chester Water Supply.
McKnight knows how quickly running water can disappear. Last year, a hidden line break in the piney woods of East Texas drained one of the City of Chester’s 63,000-gallon storage tanks in about four hours, leaving roughly a third of the system’s customers without water for part of the day for nearly two weeks.
“It was a real disaster,” said McKnight. “We were so grateful for the assistance provided by TEEX and their [Public Works] Response Team because they didn’t need to be caught up to speed; they just knew how to step in and help.”
Chester’s emergency reflects challenges common across rural Texas. Many small water systems were built decades ago to serve the populations of their day, and Chester’s system is now 61 years old. A handful of operators often carry the knowledge needed to keep those systems running, and many experienced operators are nearing retirement. When an emergency strikes a system with a small staff, limited equipment and rugged terrain, local crews can quickly find themselves stretched thin. Communities like Chester can call on TX-PWRT when local resources reach their limit.
TX-PWRT, or the Texas A&M Public Works Response Team, is a state resource sponsored by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) and is made up of public works professionals located across the state who assist local jurisdictions during catastrophic events with rapid damage assessment, short-term operational support and liaison support for incident commanders. Between September 2025 and 2026, TX-PWRT deployed 32 times, sending 62 personnel into the field for a combined 60 days alongside a half dozen local Texas partner agencies.
Many communities may not have the tech, training, workers or resources to address an active water emergency, said TX-PWRT Operations Chief Susie Blake. “When we arrive at a community in the middle of a water issue, whether it be from the system operators retiring or a leak, they just want direction. We are pressed for time to get the water back on; we inspect their facilities, work with their operators and share our expertise to get the situation under control.”
Chester Water Supply serves more than 1,200 residents across roughly 37 miles of water lines in Tyler County, much of which runs through dense forest. Operators knew a line had broken because a storage tank would not fill, but after days of walking the water pipelines, they still could not find the leak. Records of where many lines ran had been lost over the decades, and in some instances those records were not even accurate. TX-PWRT arrived with a drone equipped with thermal imaging to help search the forest, which helped identify the location of the leak.
“They were driving around looking for a place to launch the drone, and they saw a lot of water coming down the hill in a ditch,” McKnight said. “So, they followed that ditch up about 300 yards, launched the drone, and there it was. Susie and her response team helped us tremendously and saved a lot of valuable time when there would have been hundreds who didn’t have water.”
Blake’s and TX-PWRT’s commitments to Chester went well beyond finding the leak. She and the response unit stayed on site until crews repaired the line and the water began flowing again. Blake has since visited Chester to meet with the corporation’s board and point its members toward potential funding sources to address the aging water system’s need for significant repairs and updates. She also offered to bring training to Chester’s operators whenever they needed it, and McKnight was surprised by how far she was willing to go.
“I said, well, you wouldn’t want to come teach a class for just one person, because we only have one operator for this whole system right now,” McKnight said. “But, she said, ‘If I can teach to a classroom of one, I’ll do it.’”
TX-PWRT’s willingness to go wherever a community needs help took responders south of Chester to Hardin County in September 2026. After heavy flooding from Tropical Storm Edouard, a four-inch main ruptured in the community of West Hardin, leaving about 452 customers without water. Like Chester, West Hardin’s water system operates with limited staff. Its small team is responsible for more than 90 miles of water mains, and it was stretched even thinner when the line broke.
“TX-PWRT’s insight into the water field and management skills were invaluable in the decision-making process to get the water back online,” said Larry Thompson, a field supervisor with West Hardin Water Supply. “When they came in, it was like this heavy load was being lifted. You can tell that TX-PWRT loves helping people, the water industry, and helping operators when more hands are needed to fix the problem.”
For both West Chester and Hardin, TX-PWRT helped make the difference.
“I want people to know we do everything we can when these water situations get out of hand, but there is only so much we on the ground can do with old systems only operated by one or two people,” said McKnight. “Susie and her team really stepped up to help us when we needed it.”
For Blake, the work ahead centers on reaching communities faster when the next emergency strikes.
“We’re building toward strike teams in every region,” Blake said. “Placing more responders throughout the state lets us shorten response times when time in a water crisis is precious.”
Distributed by:
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service
Vita Vaughn | Director of Communications
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