Drought resilience is one of the main drivers of the ongoing projects, which include a deep water intake in Lake Travis and miles of underground pipelines.
The overview
A project to pull water from the deepest locations of Lake Travis to supply the BCRUA—a partnership made up of the cities of Round Rock, Leander and Cedar Park—is roughly halfway complete.
Once completed, the BCRUA’s raw water intake project will have the capacity to pump 145 million gallons of raw water from the lake per day. The project is meant to help the three cities meet future water demands by providing a stable source year-round.
Phase 1 of the project included the construction of a floating barge and raw water system on Lake Travis, pulling roughly 32 million gallons of water per day from the lake. However, officials say the barges are susceptible to drought conditions.
“These projects reflect [Cedar Park’s] ongoing commitment to proactive water planning,” Sousa said.
The details
The localities participating in the regional partnership originally met in 2006 to determine how much water each city would need at full build-out. The deep water intake project, which began construction in 2022, includes the construction of a 2-mile pipeline delivering water from intake screens to a new pump station. A raw water transmission tunnel and pipeline will move the pumped water to existing Cedar Park, Leander and BCRUA water treatment plants.
Michael Thane, executive director of public works for the city of Round Rock, said the combination of BCRUA projects, along with its other sources, secures Cedar Park and neighboring cities’ water well into the future.
“This will take us a long way out there—probably around 2070 and 270,000 customers,” he said. “So we have water under contract that can meet our demands for the next 45 years.”
In 2022, the BCRUA approved a contract with Thalle Construction Co. and SAK Construction for $224.8 million to build the intake system. The total cost is estimated at $293 million and is funded with cash contributions and contract revenue bonds, according to the BCRUA.
The other side
Lakes Travis and Buchanan serve as the primary water supply reservoirs in the Highland Lakes system. The last time both lakes were full was July 2019, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority. As of April 15, the lakes combined were 48% full.
The Central Texas Water Coalition is an organization dedicated to protecting the water resources of the Highland Lakes. The CTWC calls for increased conservation and planning measures in light of historically low inflows into the lake, which the organization attributes to thousands of unregulated upstream ponds, Executive Director Shannon Hamilton said.
“Whether we like [the pipeline] or not, it’s coming online. We just have to plan for it,“ Hamilton said. “We’re just not getting the same amount of water that we used to get for the same amount of rainfall. ... I don’t know when another rain event is coming, but I do know that we’ve got a lot of people relying on our lakes, and this is what we have today.”
Dig deeper
Once the Phase 1D Water Treatment Plant Expansion portion of the project is complete later this year, Cedar Park’s total water treatment capacity—between the BCRUA plant and the Cedar Park Water Treatment Plant—will be 37.2 MGD, Sousa said. The city will also benefit from increased reliability as part of the deep water intake project.
Based on the city’s current water plan, Cedar Park’s additional treatment capacity that will result from Phase 1D is expected to meet demands through 2040, Sousa said. As a result, the city does not need additional treatment capacity from the Phase 2A Water Treatment Plant Expansion and will not participate in that phase of the project.
Both Phase 2 and Phase 2A of the project are expected to finish by the summer of 2027. Cedar Park expects to participate in the Phase 3 Water Treatment Plant Expansion portion of the BCRUA projects, which will bring the BCRUA’s total treatment capacity and the pumping capacity at the raw water pump station to 106 MGD, with Cedar Park’s portion rising to 15 MGD. The timeline for that project is yet to be established but will be decided by the three participating cities, according to BCRUA’s website.
Sousa noted that Cedar Park, on average, pulls 1.5 MGD from the BCRUA. Daily water use fluctuates significantly throughout the year though, he said.
“Demand typically rises during warmer months due to outdoor water use, while in the winter, the city often takes no water from the BCRUA at all,” he said.
Sousa said Cedar Park is committed to proactive water planning to provide for the needs of residents in the future.
“[The pipeline] will allow the city to access its full raw water supply from Lake Travis even during periods of extreme drought,” he said.
Going forward
Sousa said Cedar Park is committed to proactive water planning to provide for the needs of residents in the future, and that the BCRUA projects reflect that.
The LCRA began the process to update its water management plan in March, and Hamilton said the CTWC is calling for increased conservation measures for future planning.
“The new intake will help provide a more reliable way for the cities to reach water for which they have contracted but will not provide them the right to any additional water,” LCRA officials said in an emailed statement.
More information on the project timeline can be found at www.bcrua.org.
