San Marcos, Buda and Kyle are pooling their resources now to quench their demand for water later.

Realizing that existing supplies are already spoken for and hoping to take their "water destiny" into their own hands, the cities joined forces with a trio of rural providers in 2007 to form the Hays Caldwell Public Utility Agency.

In November, the agency took a major step toward achieving that destiny when it was granted official permission to pump water from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, mostly from a patchwork of leases in the easternmost corner of Caldwell County. HCPUA members are planning to pipe the water about 40 miles west to the more populated areas along I-35.

"Anybody who knows water in the area knows that our surface water is used up, but the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer is a vast resource that is underutilized," said Graham Moore, the HCPUA's contracted general manager. "It really is a vast, abundant supply that we greatly need for the I-35 corridor."

The Carrizo-Wilcox belts across Texas from Arkansas to Mexico and is primarily used for agriculture and irrigation, although Hutto, Bryan and Schertz are among a handful of cities already using the aquifer for residential and commercial needs.

For the first phase of the HCPUA's water development project, the agency has leased more than 17,000 acres of land above the aquifer, primarily in Caldwell County with some in neighboring Gonzales County, and its permit from the Gonzales County Underground Water Conservation District allows it to withdraw 1 acre-foot of water per year for 10,300 acre-feet per year —about 9.2 million gallons per day, Moore said.

"That's enough to satisfy us for the next 25 to 30 years," he said.

The project's second phase, adding a capacity of 12 million gallons per day, is estimated to satiate the partners until about 2055. Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson, an HCPUA board member, said the water from the Carrizo-Wilcox won't be cheap, but it will guarantee reasonably affordable access to water as other resources, such as reservoirs or the Edwards Aquifer, become more limited.

"We believe we have secured a water source for Kyle, Buda and San Marcos for a very long time," Johnson said. "It's going to be an expensive project. We're hoping to possibly get help from state or federal sources, but we're not depending on it. Because we're sharing the costs, it becomes an affordable project."

Kyle and San Marcos buy a majority of their water from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, while Buda receives a majority of its water from the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District. City officials said investing in the HCPUA project gives them an ownership stake in an important future water source and gives them more power over decisions about conservation and pumping.

"When you're only buying water from sources like GBRA, you don't have a lot of control over future growth and future prices," Johnson said. "We've had very significant cost increases for water in Kyle, and a lot of that is us having to buy GBRA water at a high premium. I think all of us on the City Council want to avoid those really steep water rate increases in the future, and the HCPUA, we believe, is our best way to get there."

A 'massive' price tag

The project will take about five years and cost an estimated $110 million to drill the wells, acquire easements for the 40 miles of pipeline, build the pipeline, construct a treatment plant to remove iron from the water and install other transmission and infrastructure components, Moore said.

Each member entity is required to pay for its share of the project according to the amount of water it is expected to use about 50 years from now. The City of San Marcos holds the biggest share, at about 36 percent, while Kyle holds 28 percent and Buda holds 5 percent. The Canyon Regional Water Authority—representing the County Line, Maxwell, Martindale and Crystal Clear water supply corporations—is responsible for nearly 31 percent of the cost.

"A $110 million project is massive, so obviously debt's going to have to be issued to fund all that," Moore said. "Nobody has their portion or will have reserves saved up, but everybody's planning how to take that on. The best thing we can do is wait till more people are in the area, to spread those costs so each individual homeowner takes less of a hit on the cost of that future water."

In the six years since the HCPUA was formed, San Marcos has contributed nearly $3.7 million to the project, while Kyle has spent $2.2 million and Buda has added nearly $480,000. The CRWA has spent $2.9 million.

The HCPUA expects water demand to exceed supply for its member entities in the next 10 to 15 years, so construction would have to begin between 2018 and 2023. The project's start date has been pushed back since the area's population growth slowed along with the economic downturn in 2008, however, easing demand for new water sources. More emphasis on conservation measures has also eased the demand for new water sources, Moore added.

"Buda will need water the soonest, based on current projections," Moore said.

One component of the HCPUA's efforts is for the partner entities to share excess water, easing the demand for new infrastructure. Their water supply networks are already connected in several places, and Moore said the HCPUA's next project could be to connect the City of Buda with the City of Kyle, pushing back the date when Buda will need a new water source.

The HCPUA expects the Carrizo-Wilcox to be one of the I-35 corridor's most significant sources of water this century.

"They're primarily investing in this source," Moore said. "Everybody's always got their eyes and ears open for other options, but economics are still driving all these projects. The cheapest water is always going to be the local water that's closest to the ground, and those options are just gone."

Hays County water plans

The Hays County government, although not a member of the HCPUA, has recently made a splash of its own in the quest to secure water for its residents and businesses.

On Dec. 4, the Commissioners Court voted to team up with a number of counties, cities and other water providers throughout the Austin area in an effort to influence, develop and acquire infrastructure and water resources for the entire region. The nonprofit Coalition of Central Texas Utilities Development Corp. is representing the water providers in their efforts and is angling for lawmakers to fund a state water plan during the current legislative session.

"Coordination between regions at the state level is something that will have to be accomplished," said Precinct 4 Commissioner Ray Whisenant, who sponsored the Dec. 4 resolution. "The only real question that's ever going to have to be answered about any of these projects is how and where the money is going to come from."