As Williamson County’s population grows, local officials are working to get ahead of water demand.
At a Sept. 3 Round Rock Chamber Momentum breakfast, County Judge Steven Snell, Round Rock Public Works director Michael Thane, and Brazos River Authority CEO and General Manager David Collinsworth answered questions on a panel about the future of water planning and infrastructure in the county.
In a nutshell
Thane said an upcoming 12-month study of 20 of the county’s largest water utilities will identify immediate water supply and treatment shortfalls as well as plan regional solutions.
“One utility cannot afford to build the infrastructure by themselves, so there may be many solutions,” Thane said. “There will be regional solutions where these water utilities in Williamson County work together to help build out that infrastructure, whether it’s treatment or transmission pipelines across the county.”
How we got here
Collinsworth highlighted Round Rock’s water utility in particular as “elite.” Since the city’s water crisis in 1978, it has diversified its portfolio of water sources. In addition to ground wells from the Edwards Aquifer, Round Rock gets water from Lake Georgetown, Lake Stillhouse Hollow and Lake Travis. All but the latter are under the purview of the BRA.
Thane said in recent decades, Round Rock has developed its utility system with built-in capacity to serve the city’s full buildout population of 250,000 and then some.
“We're positioned for great economic development opportunities here in Round Rock,” Thane said. “We're not waiting until somebody calls us and says, 'Hey, can we move to Round Rock? Do you have any water available?' No, we're sitting on it, we're ready to go.”
In addition to expanding capacity, the city has enacted conservation measures, including voluntary year-round watering restrictions, rain barrel sales and reuse water lines.
Why it matters
Snell pointed to the city of Round Rock as an example to others for managing growth and planning infrastructure.
He said some other cities in the county, such as Liberty Hill, have seen their growth limited by how much water is available. Since the county is expected to double in population over the next 25 years and then double again by the end of the century, he said it’s time for local governments to make a regional effort to secure water to prepare for that growth.
“That is going to be an incredible amount of industry and retail and recreation and hospitals and all those great things,” Snell said. “We all need to come to the table and play together, [and] understand, like Michael said, the value of water, how it's used, how we're going to secure it and where we're going to get more of it.”
One such way, he said, could be a direct potable reuse system in which wastewater is treated to drinkable standards. The city of Liberty Hill is pioneering this model, he said, which could become more widely adopted throughout the county.
Collinsworth said upstream reservoirs under the BRA, such as Lake Belton, Lake Georgetown and Lake Stillhouse Hollow, could also see capacity increase with a new reservoir.
The Allens Creek Reservoir is located a couple hours south of Williamson County, he said. The authority is two years in to a 12-year permitting process, which is expected to have federal permitting costs of $150 million.
Stay tuned
Thane said a contract for the regional water study, estimated to cost about $500,000, will head to Williamson County Commissioners Court for approval soon.
