City officials, regional partners mark start of Mary Rose pipeline ‘schedule 4’ and record water deliveries

City Manager Peter Zanoni and city water operations staff briefed the City Council on a recent change to the Mary Rose pipeline that the city said produced a historic, sustained flow of roughly 70,000,000 gallons a day.

The change, described as moving the system to “schedule 4,” was announced by Zanoni and expanded on by water operations staff, who credited internal crews, consultants and regional partners for upgrades and safety work that allowed the pipeline and pump stations to operate at the higher rate.

The presentation said the city ran schedule 4 consecutively for eight days after increasing pump operations the evening the effort began, noting a short, planned rollback to schedule 3 to adjust a valve during that period. “This team was instrumental in a record setting delivery of 70,000,000 gallons of water consecutively and continuously through the Mary Rose pipeline,” Zanoni told the council. He emphasized the regional reach of the system and said the pipeline serves roughly 500,000 people in seven counties.

Drew Molly, who spoke for city water operations, described the technical work behind the change: a condition assessment using acoustic inspection tools, added pressure monitors, transformer upgrades and the installation of combination air relief vacuum valves that let crews perform work while the line remained in service. “We are in the business of protecting public health with, providing safe drinking water,” Molly said when characterizing the utility’s mission.

Molly said the city engaged consultants and contractors last fall, including a roughly $12,000,000 contract approved by council in 2024 to help expedite electrical and pump station improvements. He also said safety equipment installed on the line produced expected sounds when relieving air during the higher-flow startup, and that tests showed the 25-year-old pipeline in “pretty good shape.”

Pat Brzoski, general manager of the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, and Brian Williams, general manager of San Patricio Municipal Water District, spoke to the council as regional partners, describing coordination across multiple pump stations and communications and electrical synchronization that made the sustained operation possible. Brzoski said the operation uses full pumping capacity from five pump stations that bring water toward the city and called the effort a culmination of months of coordination.

Council members praised the workers who operate pump stations and handle the pipeline. Mayor Paulette Guajardo and several council members asked the assembled utility staff to stand so the council and audience could recognize their work.

Why it matters: Council members said the event increases the city’s operational water capacity at a time of drought and gives the community more flexibility in meeting municipal and industrial water needs. City staff said the upgrades and monitoring reduce risk and that follow-up work will continue at pump stations and with condition monitoring.

What remains to be decided: City staff described the technical and electrical upgrades completed so far and said further incremental capacity increases remain possible — the pipeline was designed to a higher maximum and staff said the longer-term goal is to approach the pipeline’s maximum pumping design — but they did not present a new schedule of additional operational increases or a calendar of further upgrades during this briefing.

The council did not take formal action during the presentation; staff said prior council approvals funded the work.