WORKING ON REPAIRS Because Leander uses more water from the BCRUA treatment plant, the city is responsible for a larger portion of the cost to repair the pipeline. Round Rock: $426,560 Leander: $746,720
about what may have caused the leak. Repairs are estimated to cost $1.6 million, which will be split among BCRUA member cities. Cedar Park’s portion of the cost is $426,720, while Leander’s is $746,720. Leander pays more for BCRUA projects because the city receives more BCRUA water. In fact, a majority of Leander’s water comes from the BCRUA plant. Its local plant, the Sandy Creek Regional Water Plant, has a production capacity of 10 million gallons per day, or mgd. Meanwhile, Leander typically has 15.1 mgd of the total 32.5 mgd from the BCRUA plant available to use. During the pipeline repair, Leander ocials are aiming to reduce water usage to 9 mgd. Leander hit this range the week of Sept. 12, Director of Public Works Gina Ellison said at the Sept. 15 council meeting. Mayor Christine DeLisle said she is condent in the city’s ability to maintain the reduced water usage. “Most people have been super respectful of [the restrictions],” she said. “They understand we’re all in this together. This isn’t anything that the city did wrong, or management at
Leander’s penalties for violators are also more severe. After a warning, repeat violators can face a $1,000 ne and immediate water shut o with reconnection fees. In Cedar Park, residential and commercial violators will rst receive a warning, before facing up to a $200 or $1,000 ne, respectively, for subsequent violations. Beau Taylor, a resident of Grand Mesa At Crystal Falls in Leander, said while the Stage 4 restrictions are severe, he understands why. “I think they’re purposefully restrictive,” he said. “[The city] did it a couple of weeks in advance, so people could change behaviors, so that they don’t have major problems when they actually go x [the pipe].” If Leander uses more water than intended while the BCRUA plant is o¤ine, the city will have pressure problems, outages and unclean water, triggering a potentially long-lasting boil-water notice, ocials said. The BCRUA is in the process of building a deep-water intake line that will provide a more reliable water source from Lake Travis. While
BCRUA ... has done wrong. This is a defect in a pipeline, and it’s got to be xed—this isn’t in perpetuity; this is just a few weeks.” Cedar Park is relying on its local plant, which produces 75% of the city’s water supply, during the repair. Of Cedar Park’s total water production capacity of 34.7 mgd, the city receives 8.7 mgd from the BCRUA. Water worries Leander has received some com- plaints from residents about their restrictions being more severe than Cedar Park’s, raising concerns about caring for their yards and plants. “We just take such a large portion of our water from [the BCRUA] plant. Cedar Park has other water sources,” Leander Conservation Program Coordinator Bill Teeter said. During the pipe repair, Cedar Park residents are permitted to water with a handheld hose with a shuto sprayer. However, all outdoor watering in Leander is restricted. These restrictions have been in place in since Sept. 8 in Leander and Sept. 9 in Cedar Park.
TOTAL $1.6 MILLION
Cedar Park: $426,720
SOURCES: CITY OF LEANDER, CITY OF CEDAR PARK COMMUNITY IMPACT
completion of this project is expected in 2027, DeLisle expressed concerns over the current pipe in the meantime. “The ¥aws in that pipeline are very real … so we are hoping this is the end of it, but I think a lot of us are losing sleep over it—that it might not be—and we’re still several years out from the deep-water intake [project],” she said.
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CEDAR PARK LEANDER EDITION • OCTOBER 2022
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