If there’s an unofficial watchword for the Lufkin Department of Water and Sewer Utilities, it might be self-sufficiency.

The Texas utilities’ management culture emphasizes doing things in-house whenever possible. And while adhering to that ethic, the city has been pressing ahead with a comprehensive sewer system rehab program that has targeted a long-standing stormwater inflow and infiltration problem.

The I&I reduction effort has been underway for more than a decade,...