The city of San Marcos is developing a new wastewater reclamation facility to expand services on the city's growing south side. (Michael Milliorn/Community Impact)
The San Marcos City Council approved a cost-sharing agreement with multiple developers in May 2024 to fund a new water reclamation facility, located in the city’s growing south side.
The project has seen recent progress in the design phase and is slated to begin construction in October, according to agenda documents.
The gist
The FM 1978 Water Reclamation Facility project will allow the city to avoid developing multiple small wastewater package plants throughout the area and upstream of the San Marcos River, according to agenda documents.
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While typical wastewater treatment plants just treat the water, the new facility will reclaim water to meet future demand, according to agenda documents. Each gallon of water reclaimed by the facility will provide a gallon of potable water demand.
The new facility will initially treat 2 million gallons per day and have the capacity to be expanded to treat 8 million gallons per day. The project is utilizing a unique development strategy that will deliver the facility’s design and construction faster and with more cost certainty, according to agenda documents.The proposed site for the new FM 1978 Water Reclamation Facility. (Michael Milliorn/Community Impact)The project utilizes a progressive design-build strategy, employing a design-builder as opposed to a separate engineer and contractor, as is done with a conventional design-bid-build method, the process most commonly used by the city, according to agenda documents.
Under the design-build approach, developers oversee both the design and construction phases, providing the city with guaranteed maximum price, or GMP, contract packages that detail scope and pricing estimates with greater certainty.
FM 1978 Water Reclamation Facility project developers have completed 60% of the design for GMP packages 1 and 2, including early work details such as pump-and-haul improvements and equipment procurement. The City Council will vote on GMPs 1 and 2 at a July 7 meeting, according to agenda documents.
The project is currently estimated to cost over $96 million for both design and construction.
Looking forward
The project’s total budget is $120 million. The original contract with developers to design and build the facility was $3.7 million. GMPs serve as contract amendments, adding projected development costs to the total amount the city pays the developers.
On July 7, the City Council will vote on GMP 1, which will add $37 million to $42 million to the contract, and GMP 2, which will add $57 million to $62 million to the contract, according to agenda documents.
The council will vote on a third GMP in September. The amendment will authorize the FM 1978 Water Reclamation Facility project’s construction scope and cost. Construction on the project is expected to begin in October and be completed in September 2028, according to agenda documents.
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