With major companies, such as the Samsung Austin Semiconductor facility in Taylor, setting up shop in the county, stakeholders are questioning whether the area’s water supply will meet the demand of growing industry. The amount of water available to the area is not the concern, though, said David Collinsworth, general manager and CEO of the Brazos River Authority.
“It’s how do you develop water and bring it in a timely fashion that the Samsungs of the world can access that water and growth continues?” Collinsworth said. “So I’m not worried about water supply. I’m worried about development of water.”
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Williamson County’s population reached 643,000 in 2021, up more than 50% since 2010. In the next 20 years, the county is projected to have 1 million people residing in it—spurred by new industrial parks going up and tech companies moving in.
The Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority is a partnership of the cities of Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock. Currently, the system is served by floating water intakes on Lake Travis. However, because of the lake’s fluctuation, BCRUA General Manager Karen Bondy said the authority has a new expansion in the works to reduce vulnerability to the water supply.
“The ultimate plan to have a more secure water supply for the three cities is to have a deep water intake that could divert water from the lake, no matter what level it is, and reduce the dependency on the floating barges,” she said.
The project, construction for which started in June, costs roughly $225 million. The new system will allow for an ultimate capacity of 145 million gallons of water per day to the BCRUA. In addition to this new project, Bondy said additional technology, such as automatic meters, can be used to conserve water and money, because “the cheapest water is the water you already have.”
“Each home has its own meter that can tell you [in] real time what you’re using, and you can tell immediately if you’re having some sort of a water leak,” she said. “In fact, in [Winter] Storm Uri, Cedar Park was able to immediately identify where their waterline breaks were because of this AMI monitoring, and they were able to send their crews out there and stop those leaks.”
The state has nine major aquifers recognized by the Texas Water Development Board, along with 22 minor aquifers. Each of these aquifers have different amounts of minerals. Collinsworth said if different technologies exist that allow that water to be demineralized, it will allow for additional local water supplies. He said the BRA is working with other entities to evaluate how technologies can remove salt from water in the Gulf of Mexico.
“If the Gulf of Mexico could be used for industrial water or drinking water, and it has to be affordable down on the coast, then all of the reservoirs that we have that are north of Georgetown, Round Rock, Waco and so many of our statewide water supplies—that water can be rechanneled for more local uses in Williamson County along the I-35 corridor."
