City near its wastewater limit with current facility
Bee Cave growth nearly came to a standstill this month as the West Travis County Public Utility Agency presented its case for a new sewage treatment plant to the Bee Cave City Council.
The council voted to approve the plans for the new sewage treatment plant located at 12900 1/2 Bee Cave Parkway, near the Hill Country Galleria. Only Councilman Bob Dorsett voted against the motion while Councilman Mike Murphy abstained from the vote due to his involvement with the utility.
The new plant will be built on 12.5 acres of land, surrounded on three sides by a bird preserve, and will cost an estimated $12 million. The plant, which will have an effluent storage pond with a maximum depth of 45 feet, enough for 60 days of storage, has an estimated completion date of January 2014.
The council was caught off guard by the urgency of building a new plant.
"We have a crisis," Bee Cave Mayor Caroline Murphy said during the meeting.
The crisis was discovered in late March as members of the WTCPUA pored over more than 700 boxes of information received after agreeing to purchase the current treatment plant from the Lower Colorado River Authority on behalf of Bee Cave and the neighboring communities.
"It really came to light at the end of March," WTCPUA General Manager Don Rauschuber said. "We had tons of information and data come over. We had many meetings with LCRA for this transition to occur and we actually started receiving information prior to March 19 (the date the PUA took operational control from LCRA). We then started analyzing all these service extension requests and we realized all of the commitments being made to water and wastewater, and some are fairly large.
"We also identified some operation issues at the Lakepointe Wastewater Treatment Plant," Rauschuber said. "That can lead to odor issues because the plant has been so heavily loaded with organic flow. We are making some major improvements to the wastewater plant to decrease the odor issues and operational issues, but there is still a lot of work to be done there to make sure this facility will last us another 20 to 30 years."
What came to light in the review by the PUA was that the current plant, with all of the commitments made, was dangerously close to being out of compliance with the Texas Commission on Environment Quality.
Out of compliance
The so-called "75/90 percent rule" exists to be in compliance with TCEQ standards, which means that when a wastewater plant reaches 75 percent of capacity for three consecutive months, the owner of the plant has to begin planning for expansion or for a new facility. When the plant reaches 90 percent capacity for three consecutive months, the expansion or new facility must be under construction.
According to data provided by LCRA, there was a five-month span in 2011 when the Lakepointe plant was above 75 percent and close to 90 percent capacity.
"We immediately started asking, 'Why is this happening?'" Rauschuber said. "One of the reasons is we have a lot of customers coming on ... We are coming out of this two-year housing slump, and I'm already getting calls from interested developers. Bee Cave is a growth center."
It is this growth that could see a halt if the new sewage treatment plant hits any snags.
"This plant should have been built four years ago," Murfee Engineering owner George Murfee, whose company will handle the construction of the plant, said.
Permits for the wastewater plant on Bee Cave Parkway have been in place for more than a decade, and LCRA looked to begin construction in 2005–06, according to Rauschuber.
The delay on the construction of the plant put the city in a precarious position, forcing the council to act before it was ready.
"It's a disaster," Councilman Murphy said during the meeting. "We're in crisis catch-up mode."
Rauschuber acknowledged that had the council waited any longer, the city could be looking at a more drastic situation.
"The bottom line is we have a plant that is approaching capacity," Rauschuber said. "The site development permit was the last approval that we needed to build the facility. If the council delayed it for a month or two, it just depends, we would have been in the situation where we would have had to do a moratorium [on building]. There is some capacity left in the plant, but you don't want to push right up to the limit and say stop. [A moratorium] doesn't benefit the city, it doesn't benefit the PUA and it doesn't benefit the customers."
Future plans
The permit held by the PUA allows for 1 million gallons per day of wastewater. With the addition of the plant at Bee Cave Parkway, the permit will be maxed out, leaving the PUA with a few different options going forward.
"It is the PUA board that will set the policies," Rauschuber said. "The board could say we are going to stop growth when we hit capacity. A future board could say that when they hit capacity, they could look at a third plant. It depends on what the vision is of the PUA board of directors, and that is what we implement.
"We are not here to serve future growth. We are here to serve existing customers at the lowest possible cost with the highest possible service," Rauschuber added.
The PUA is not legally obligated to provide wastewater service. The PUA does not hold a wastewater Certificate of Convenience and Necessity, which allows a company to hold a monopoly of service, but with that certificate comes the requirement to serve.
The PUA board could look at a third plant, but for now it is very pleased with the location and potential of the Bee Cave Parkway plant, according to Rauschuber.
"It's a great place for a wastewater site because it's nestled on three sides by the conservatory," Rauschuber said. "[The plant] is about 1,000 feet off the road and is also downslope, so it will be hidden behind the embankment of the pond.
"No one wants to live next to a sewer plant, but this was a planned location for many years it was part of a master plan. As long as it's operated, built, designed and constructed properly, odor won't be an issue. It's a very favorable location for a plant."
