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Large-Diameter Pipe Projects in Hidalgo County, Texas because of the age of the infrastructure. We have assisted our district clients in obtaining grants, such as the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART grants, and by providing our services in implementing the conservation projects. Most of my work is centered on those irrigation districts. Municipal Water Leader: How do you help your clients obtain grants like those?
Three lengths of 60-inch-diameter Diamond PVC pipe used in the aerial crossing of a drainage ditch for United Irrigation District in Mission, Texas. The project was funded by the Bureau of Reclamation.
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rank Ferris is the president of Ferris, Flinn & Medina, LLC, a consulting engineering firm based outside of Harlingen, Texas, in the lower Rio Grande Valley. The firm provides consulting engineering services for water utilities, irrigation districts, municipalities, developers, and navigation districts. Today, one of the firm’s major focuses is helping its clients conserve water by improving the efficiency of their systems, particularly by piping open ditches and upgrading existing pipelines. One large current project involves building a 6,000-foot-long, 48-inch-diameter PVC pipeline for Hidalgo County Water Improvement District No. 3. In this interview, Mr. Ferris tells Municipal Water Leader about his firm’s activities and current projects.
Frank Ferris: I graduated from Texas A&M University in 1985 with a bachelor of science in civil
30 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | September 2020
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PHOTO COURTESY OF FERRIS, FLINN & MEDINA, LLC.
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
engineering. I am from Harlingen, Texas, and after graduating I came back to Harlingen and began working with a consulting firm that specialized in water and wastewater. I was with that firm for about 13 years, and in that time I worked on projects for a lot of different municipalities, including Brownsville, Harlingen, and Laredo, specifically on the planning, design, and construction of water and wastewater distribution, collection, and treatment facilities. In 1998, I went out on my own and continued water and wastewater consulting. Over the years, our firm has grown to about 20 people. I have three partners: two engineers and one surveyor. Our firm specializes in water. We began by doing a lot of development, and now we’re providing more water-related engineering services. Currently, I work as district engineer on a consulting basis for several irrigation districts in our area. The irrigation districts are about 100 years old, and there are a lot of opportunities for water conservation
Frank Ferris: WaterSMART is a competitive grant program. It provides funding to cover up to 50 percent of the cost of water projects. This year, the program has increased the funding amounts for its water and energy efficiency grants to $500,000 for funding group I projects—those that can be completed in 2 years—and up to $2,000,000 for funding group II projects—those that can be completed in 3 years. With regard to its drought resiliency projects, the amount for funding group I is $500,000 and the amount for funding group II is $1,500,000. The program has changed a little bit over the years in terms of its grading criteria. The most important thing to consider when applying for a Reclamation grant is whether you have a good project that conserves a lot of water. The more water you conserve, the more likely you are to successfully obtain a grant. Reclamation publishes a number of goals in its funding opportunity announcements; those goals are used as grading criteria when it considers which projects to fund. The most important thing, again, is conservation. If you have a canal that seeps a lot of water, Reclamation wants you to document the reduction in seepage that would result from the implementation of the proposed project. Recently, Reclamation has awarded a lot of points for the total volume
