West U officials approved a $1.29 million professional services engineering design contract with engineering firm Garver USA on Nov. 9 to complete the design of Phase 2 of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant capital project.
The decision came after City Council first authorized a fiscal year 2026-27 budget amendment for $1.48 million.
Some context
The WWTP project targets the enhancement of West U’s more than 40-year-old processing facility, which will strengthen the area’s overall flood resiliency during extreme weather events.
Earlier in July, Garver representatives and city staff presented findings from an independent review of previously developed project documents to council, from which they made recommendations for future phasing. It was at the same July 27 session that a single construction package for the finalized rehabilitation of the WWTP was approved.
Items of work included:
Implementation of a new screening system
Air distribution piping improvements
Installation of coarse bubble diffusers (instead of fine)
Bridges, walkways and grating replacements
Valve replacements
Clarifier rehabilitation
Blower equipment replacements
Conversion to liquid sodium hypochlorite
Garver officials noted at this time that, because the scope of the project’s initial construction package was reduced to fit the available budget, several rehabilitation items would need to be addressed in subsequent phases.
This fact was reiterated Nov. 9 as Garver representatives Jason Kirby and Wade Parks proposed a design for Phase 2, which seeks to simplify several involved facility processes so that future plant operations will be more consistent, safer for workers and less complicated.
“Phase 1 is under construction. It includes the control building, lab building, electrical building and you’re building a new on-site lift station. It also includes a generator relocation condition department,” Kirby said. “So Phase 2’s gonna pick up the items that were not covered.”
What’s different?
Garver’s proposed Phase 2 design includes several concept revisions from the initial package.
Also on the agenda
West U officials also received an update from HDR Engineering and Halff consultants on the progress of several design and planning items related to the West Side Drainage Project.
Per the meeting presentation, the West Side Drainage Project consists of:
Constructing a new storm sewer trunkline within a 40-foot city corridor starting from Bissonnet Street and stretching to Brays Bayou (Phase 1)
Upsizing storm sewers throughout the west side
Rerouting the existing storm sewer network for efficiency and direction toward the new trunkline
Replacing identified cast iron waterlines within the project area
The project’s inception was a direct result of a drainage study that was conducted on the entire city by hydrology engineering firm HT&J back in 2019. The study identified using corridors within the west side of the city as a potential option for transporting water, leading city staff and officials to explore the proposal more deeply over the next few years.
In April 2025, HDR officials brought three trunkline alternative plans to council for review. They then took the feedback they received to further refine the options for a second look at the Nov. 9 meeting.
Mapping it out
HDR and Halff officials said their intent behind creating additional models and revising the first phase of the project is to identify the most cost-effective solution not just for West U, but for the whole affected region. West U officials gave the consulting team authorization to conduct further modeling in January.
Through refinement of Phase 1, officials were able to reduce the project’s estimated improvement costs by nearly $60M, from $206M to $147M.
The estimated total cost for the drainage project in its entirety, which includes Phase 1 and roughly $52.5M in other internal drainage improvements, is $199.5M, according to the presentation.
HDR officials said the only modeling that remains is related to the diversions of College Street and University Boulevard, which will further optimize the west side’s storm sewer network.
The consulting team will return to council in February 2027 with the final modeling results as part of its report, City Manager Dave Beach said.
