Wet weather prevents water crisis, buys more time for regional system planning

Wet weather prevents water crisis, buys more time for regional system planning

Written by Kara Vaught Saturday, 07 July 2007

One man’s washout often constitutes another’s windfall. For Leander, Cedar Park and Round Rock, the recent deluge deters the hardships of an impending drought, buying the cities’ water procurement partnership more time to implement its plan to ensure the cities are never left high and dry.

“We really did just dodge a bullet,” said Wayne Watts, public works director and engineer for Leander. “If we hadn’t had all this tremendous amount of rain, by the end of the summer, we would have been in a serious emergency situation.”

The plan

The cities of Leander, Cedar Park and Round Rock formed the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority in 2006 to create the infrastructure necessary to ensure a reliable source of water for citizens during years when — unlike now — rain is scarce.

Cedar Park and Leander already rely on water from Lake Travis. Cedar Park owns and operates a floating water intake plant on the Sandy Creek arm of the lake, while Leander receives water from a nearby Lower Colorado River Authority plant operated by the Brazos River Authority.

Round Rock, currently supplied by the Edwards Aquifer, Lake Georgetown and Lake Stillhouse Hollow, invested in the Brushy Creek partnership to ensure enough water for its booming population, said Jim Nuse, Round Rock city manager.

Phase one of the project includes adding a temporary floating intake facility beside Cedar Park’s existing structure, a new raw water pipeline, a treatment facility in Cedar Park and a treated water pipeline. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2008 and be complete in 2010.

It is phase two, construction of a deep water intake facility and raw water pipeline, which will ensure the cities have water even in drought conditions, Watts said. As water levels decline during droughts, the floating intakes inch closer to the lake bottom, eventually reaching dry ground and sucking air.

A deep water intake is built to reach into the lake below the point to which water levels receded during the worst drought on record.

“It’s been 57 years since that drought, so it’s becoming more and more statistically possible to occur again,” Watts said. “It’s very important to have that deep water intake because, at some point, we will have a drought.”

Construction of phase two is scheduled to begin in 2009 and end in 2011. In 2016, the treatment plant built in phase one is expected to need an expansion, according to the partnership’s timeline. The entire plan has a projected cost of $330 million.

The opposition

The Brushy Creek partnership’s plan is ready for implementation save one factor: the location of the deep water intake facility. Seven sites are under consideration, four of which are located in the Village of Volente.

A group of Volente citizens have hired a lawyer, Jason Collins, to assist them in prohibiting the Brushy Creek partnership from constructing the intake in Volente.

Outside a June 21 open house in Volente hosted by the Brushy Creek partnership, Collins passed out printed questions for Volente citizens to ask of the partnership’s representatives.

One of the questions was “why have you waited until now to spread the word around Volente of your intentions to construct an industrial facility in our city?”

Chris Lippe, the project manager for the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, said that until Winter 2006, the project was still conceptual, with no leader and no firm plans. In February 2007, after Leander, Cedar Park and Round Rock formally formed the partnership, representatives met with Volente Mayor Jan Yenawine to discuss their plans.

Another of Collins’ handouts stated “the cities of Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander have available cost-effective sources of water within Williamson County. The Tri-City Group should negotiate a long-term contract for water produced out of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer or pumped from eastern Williamson County Lakes.”

Extensive studies, comparing every water source and combination of water sources, have been conducted, Lippe said, and every alternative is tens of millions of dollars more than Brushy Creek’s plan.

Additionally, Leander and Cedar Park already have long-term contracts with the Lower Colorado River Authority for raw water from Lake Travis, said Kenneth Wheeler, Cedar Park assistant director of utilities. Abandoning those contracts and creating new ones with different water sources would waste money.

Another alternative put forth by Collins and Volente citizens is for the Brushy Creek cities to join the City of Austin in its current plans for a deep water intake facility.

That option, said Lippe and Wheeler, would cost the Brushy Creek cities $100 million to $235 million more than their plan. The difference in price, Lippe said, is due to the extra pipeline that would be necessary to pump water from Austin’s site near The Oasis restaurant, 6550 Comanche Trail. Plus, such a pipeline would have to run through an environmentally sensitive area, and permits might not be available, Wheeler said.

Moving forward

The Brushy Creek partnership’s project timeline lists 2007-2008 as a time when public input will be sought on proposed intake sites, facility design and construction mitigation.

In information packets passed out to Volente citizens at the open house, the partnership expressed a desire to come to an agreement with Volente:

“Potentially affected stakeholders will be adversely impacted if we can’t find a way to work together to make decisions that are mutually beneficial rather than engage in costly, combative actions with less than desirable results.”

Collins doubts an amicable solution.

“The main issue for me is this case boils down to a battle of cities,” he said. “I think this will end in a courtroom several years from now.”

• Site 1: Approximately one and a half acres in Arrowhead Point subdivision No. 1.
• Site 2: A 12.5-acre lot adjacent to Arrowhead Point subdivision No. 1. Two acres would accommodate the facility.
• Site 3: Approximately two acres in Lake Travis subdivision No. 3.
• Site 4: A 15-acre tract in Lake Travis subdivision No. 2. Two acres would accommodate the facility.
• Site 5: Approximately four acres in Northshore phase 2, a subdivision of undeveloped custom home lots.
• Site 6: Approximately 20 acres at the Volente Beach water park and marina, two of which would accommodate the facility.
• Site 7: Approximately 25 acres located near Site 6 and the marina, two of which would accommodate the facility.

Brushy Creek partnership: A timeline

• 1997-1998
  • Areas in Volente are identified as potential water intake sites by studies commissioned by Cedar Park, the Lower Colorado River Authority and the Texas Water Development Board.
  • Volente landowners and developers begin discussions with Cedar Park about the sale of water in exchange for access to the area needed for an intake structure.
• 2003
  • The Village of Volente is incorporated.
  • HDR, Cedar Park’s engineer, works with the Volente Municipal Utilities District developer to identify a site in Volente on which developers propose to obtain an easement for the intake facility.
• 2004
  • Volente developers obtain signatures needed for the easement and inform Cedar Park that the document will be delivered when a water agreement is reached.
• 2005
  • Studies commissioned by Round Rock determine partnership with Cedar Park and/or the LCRA is the most cost-effective way to access Lake Travis water for regional water treatment and delivery.
  • Round Rock and Cedar Park begin discussions about a regional water system. LCRA joins talks on behalf of Leander.
  • The three hire HDR Engineering to prepare a preliminary report.
• 2006
  • The three cities decide to create a partnership without LCRA. The Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority is born.
• 2007
  • Preliminary design report begins. Phase one of the regional water system is slated to include expansion of Cedar Park’s existing intake facility, a raw water pipeline to a new treatment plant and a treated water transmission line, scheduled for completion in 2010.
• 2007-2008
  • Cities begin public involvement and input process.
  • Final designs for phase two facilities: the deep water intake and raw water pipeline, will be presented at public hearings.
  • Construction of phase one facilities begins.
• 2009
  • Construction of phase two facilities begins.
• 2010
  • Phase one construction complete.
• 2011
  • Phase two complete.
• 2016
  • Expansion of treatment plant expected to be needed.

Source: A timeline prepared by the cities of Leander, Cedar Park and Round Rock