To take a comprehensive look at its water system, Friendswood contracted Garver, an engineering, planning, architectural and environmental services firm, in September 2021 to review its water system and create a water model.
Garver Project Manager Wade Parks presented the findings of the study at Friendswood’s Oct. 3 City Council meeting. The firm visited every water plant and tank and worked with Friendswood’s engineering to identify immediate and long-term water system needs.
“Part of what we were trying to do is not only assess how your existing system is performing, but also what’s going to happen in the future,” Parks said.
Crossing the creek
The study found the city has sufficient source, storage and pumping capacity; however, the city struggles to get water to its southwest portion.
Parks said the study focused on trying to solve what it identified as the most significant problem—low chlorine residuals observed on the southern end of the city—as well as reducing the bottleneck of water crossing Clear Creek.
“You have a good system. The major issue that you have is just trying to get that water to the south part of town,” Parks said.
The city has just two water lines crossing over Clear Creek, creating a bottleneck. The system has to pressurize to overcome the crossing and get water to the rest of the city. The water quality is a reflection of the ability to get water to the other side of town, Parks said.
“That really is the hindering portion of y’all’s system,” he said.
City Manager Morad Kabiri explained this is because the city’s surface water comes from Houston’s Southeast Water Purification Plant and has to be pumped to the farthest reaches of Friendswood.
To solve this, Parks proposed the addition of a new 24-inch water line parallel with the existing water line. Adding this redundancy would help get water to the southwest area.
Finding room for improvement
While Parks said the study mostly focused on ways to solve the problem of water quality in the south part of town and reduce bottlenecking, it also found some small improvements for the city to address.
The study found slightly elevated lead and copper levels, mostly observed in older parts of town, such as the downtown area. This is due to water hardness dislodging debris in pipes, Kabiri said. While the city has had no violations of these levels since 2019, Parks said it is worth noting because the Environmental Protection Agency announced revisions to its Lead and Copper Rule.
The study also highlighted a number of residential water lines that would be easy to replace during a road project.
“We tried to really focus a lot on maximizing the dollars that y’all are investing in your community,” Parks said. “So this gives staff a playbook to address issues.”
Garver’s subconsultant, IDS Engineering Group, evaluated the condition of Friendswood’s water storage tanks. The firm recommended the full rehabilitation of three ground storage tanks, the replacement of one ground storage tank and the full rehabilitation of an elevated storage tank. Rehabilitation would address corrosion and improve the tank’s structural integrity, Parks said.
The cost for these repairs and replacement is estimated at over $3 million. However, Parks said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation offers grants to help with the costs of storage tanks and pumping systems for areas vulnerable to drought. Grants and low-interest loans are also available to fund the replacement of lead surface lines.
Parks said construction packages can be separated based on funding the city has available so work can be done in phases over time.
“What we wanted to propose to the city was a system that maximized the city’s budget and reduced the stranded capital,” Parks said. “We tried to break it up so that you can take bite-sized pieces and it’s not just a slug load one year.”
