Now, with several infrastructure additions and maintenance projects nearing completion—costing $30.2 million—including new wells, tanks and booster pumps, the city will begin operating with a lifted development moratorium as early as September, Dantzer said.
“All of our [key performance indicators] are saying that by October, we will be in the clear,” Dantzer said.
The overview
City Engineer Tim Robertson confirmed that several improvements—from new elevated and ground storage tanks to two soon-to-be-completed wells—will bring Magnolia’s system capacity in line with state standards.
Once complete and in service, Robertson said he believes the additions will expand redundancy and future-proof the city’s water infrastructure for growth.
Click on the points on the map below to see specific information about each water plant.
How we got here
Magnolia enacted its water moratorium in December 2022 after nearing state-mandated limits for water system capacity, Robertson said.
He said the city was approaching the threshold where infrastructure such as wells, booster pumps and storage tanks could no longer reliably serve the growing number of water connections.
“The [Texas Commission on Environmental Quality] has regulations about what capacities you have to have on water infrastructure ... to serve the number of connections that we have. And that’s why we went into a moratorium—because we were bumping up against that,” Robertson said. “We said we need to put ourselves in a position where we build infrastructure to get ahead.”
At the time the moratorium was enacted, Magnolia had only two operational water plants and limited storage space. Since then, city staff have worked to expand capacity through phased improvements, Robertson said.
Without proper infrastructure before the moratorium was in place, even routine maintenance could have left residents underserved, Robertson said.
“Moving forward, I think that we’ll do a much better job of when we make commitments [for water connections] that we are putting the infrastructure to maintain those commitments,” Dantzer said.
What they’re saying
With the moratorium nearly lifted, builders and developers are preparing for a new wave of opportunity. Cody Miller, director of government affairs with the Greater Houston Builders Association, said he believes lifting the moratorium opens doors across the industry.
“You’re creating economic opportunity not just for builders, but for tradespeople, lenders, realtors. ... Everyone re-engages,” Miller said.
The pause slowed new development, but industry professionals said they understood the need.
“Most developers understand temporary pauses are necessary for scalable growth,” said Skip Colvin, chair of the Southwest Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce’s economic development committee.
Dantzer said the city worked with developers to maintain trust, and agreements were made for limited monthly connections to allow for some residential properties to come online that were grandfathered in from the moratorium.
“They gave us numbers, and we abided by them,” Dantzer said.
Magnolia’s moratorium may have paused development, but it also gave city leaders space to rethink how growth is supported, and what that growth should look like, said Rachel Steele, executive director of Magnolia Economic Development Corp.
“Just because the moratorium is lifting doesn’t mean we stop planning and putting safeguards in place so that we don’t repeat what we experienced,” Steele said.
Since the moratorium began, the city has expanded from three to five operational water wells, with two more nearing completion. Once all are online, the city’s total well capacity will exceed 5,500 gallons per minute, enough to support about 9,200 customers, Robertson said.
The MEDC has also played a role, investing nearly $1 million in a temporary water system during the early months of the moratorium to help keep key commercial projects moving, Steele said.
“Then once the city could assess where it was and what the needs were, we were then given some flexibility in that time frame,” she said. “But then afterwards, we probably put another $200,000 into infrastructure planning on our own to help support the city in commercial infrastructure expansion and what that’s going to look like.”
Steele said the city is expecting to see a spike in development once the moratorium is lifted. Colvin said he also expects a strong return to growth.
“Magnolia’s leadership has laid the groundwork for expanded water infrastructure, and as that capacity comes online, it will open doors for renewed activity,” Colvin said.
Colvin also said the chamber committee is working with both the city and county to ensure the workforce and infrastructure are in place to support new opportunities.
“Our goal is to help facilitate growth that enhances quality of life and reinforces Magnolia’s identity as a great place to live and work,” Colvin said.
Looking ahead
Robertson said the city has already secured land for a fifth water plant and is currently looking for land to acquire to accommodate a sixth water plant in the future to support growth and avoid water capacity setbacks.
Robertson also said that the city is looking to start and finish construction on Water Plants No. 5 and 6 within the next three years.
