The West Harris County Regional Water Authority will allocate $1.126 billion in bond funding to complete four water pipeline projects between 2015 and 2019. The water projects will help the authority reach surface water usage goals mandated by the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District. According to the mandate, the water authority must convert the water it pumps to 60 percent surface water by 2025 and 80 percent surface water by 2035. “To do this takes an extensive program of construction to deliver this volume of water,” said Bruce Parker, the president of the authority’s board of directors, at a town hall meeting Oct. 22. The meeting was held to present timelines for the upcoming water pipeline projects. The mandate aims to prevent subsidence, or the sinking of the ground as a result of withdrawing groundwater. The first mandated goal for the WHCRWA was to convert local water usage to 30 percent surface water by 2010. “We have achieved this goal and are currently running about 36 percent conversion,” Parker said. Board of directors Vice President Larry Weppler said the authority has been teaming with other entities to try to reduce the cost of conversion. Projects include the Luce Bayou Project, which will bring water from Trinity River across to the San Jacinto River into Lake Houston. That water will then be picked up and used by the Northeast Water Purification Plant. The total cost of the project will be $350 million, and the WHCRWA’s share is $70 million, Weppler said. In addition to that project, the Northeast Water Purification Plant will be expanded at a cost of $1.28 billion. The local authority’s share of that project is $320 million. There is also the Surface Water Supply Project, a 39-mile long project that will carry water from the Northeast plant to west Harris County. “It is going to be our primary source of water,” Weppler said. “That project is estimated to cost about $680 million. It will be shared with North Fort Bend Water Authority. We have a 55 percent share in that. That cost is $375 million.” Weppler said once the water gets to west Harris County, it will have to be split among all of the municipal utility districts in the area, adding about 75 miles of varying sizes of water pipelines. The project costs $361 million. To pay for all the projects, the authority will be selling bonds every year and adjusting its fees for water per 1,000 gallons to the MUDs in the authority. “We’re trying to very good stewards of your money and deliver a project that is as efficient and economical as possible,” board assistant secretary Eric Hansen said.