Cedar Park, Leander city councils approve construction agreements for next phase in BCRUA project

Construction contracts for the second phase of the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority deep water intake project were approved by Cedar Park City Council at the May 26 meeting.

The deep water intake project will help the resiliency of the city’s water supply during droughts, Mike A. Huber, Cedar Park utility engineering manager, said at the meeting.

All three member cities of the BCRUA partnership—Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock—needed to agree on the selection of a contractor for construction. The selected contractor is a joint venture between Thalle Construction Company and SAK Construction for $224.78 million in project construction costs.

Cedar Park was the last city out of the BCRUA partnership to approve the construction agreement for the next phase of the project, pledging $65.09 million. Leander City Council approved the construction contract at a May 19 meeting, with its portion of the cost being $96.32 million.

In March, BCRUA received 6 proposals from contractors for construction of the second phase in the deep water intake project. Thalle/SAK JV was the highest ranked firm with the lowest cost, Huber said.

Cedar Park’s portion of the funding for construction costs will be provided through the State Water Improvement Fund for Texas, or SWIFT, which are included in the city’s fiscal year 2022 budget. The city of Leander will also be using SWIFT loan funds, which are approved in the current budget.

The next phase of the deep water intake project will take the daily water capacity from 32.5 million gallons to 144 million gallons, Huber said. Project construction will take roughly five years to complete.

“Awesome job on all three cities passing the contractor agreement for BCRUA,” council member Anne Duffy said at the meeting. “We are in such a good position now, water-wise, so I’m super excited to be a part of that.”