Shifting to surface water From the cover
What’s happening
North Harris County Regional Water Authority projects
Existing lines
NHCRWA
Planned projects 1 Schindewolf Pump Station Improvements include replacing portions of an existing pump station. • Timeline: Construction begins in 2025; service begins in 2026 • Cost: $1 million 2 Louetta Pump Station Improvements at this existing pump station will ensure adequate water supply is delivered to new water-receiving facilities. • Timeline: Construction begins in 2026; service begins in 2027 • Cost: $48.23 million 3 Project 23 This project will ultimately bring water to future distribution lines via a new pump station. • Timeline: Construction begins in 2026; service begins in 2027 • Cost: $188.8 million 4 Project 39 This project will supply water to an additional 21 water-receiving facilities via 30 miles of piping. • Timeline: Construction begins in
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The North Harris County Regional Water Authority is working on several projects to convert groundwater use to surface water use. NHCRWA General Manager Jun Chang said about 32%-34% of its total water usage currently comes from surface water. Chang said most of the NHCRWA’s projects for the 2025 surface water deadline focus on expanding water lines. Loops of water lines connect municipal utility districts to pump stations, and each loop expansion helps create a more interconnected internal distribution system to deliver surface water to increasingly distant areas as the network grows. Most projects are paid for through bonds, funds from state entities and co-funding agreements. Board member Mark Ramsey said the NHCRWA is $2.7 billion in debt, and it’s expected to climb to $7 billion in the next 10 years. He hopes the Texas Legislature can provide “regulatory relief” to avoid unsustainable water rates. “We’re now headed toward $15 billion in cost with interest. ... We don’t have even $100 million of actual damage [from subsidence] identi ed,” Ramsey said. “Why are we doing this government- mandated project to x something that may or may not actually be a problem?”
45
6
4
1960
2
249
1
3
5
N
2027; service begins in 2028 • Cost: $193.5 million Completed projects 5 Alan Rendl Pump Station This new pump station delivers water to the west and northwest parts of the service area. • Timeline: Construction began in
2020; service began in 2024 • Cost: $120.32 million 6 Project 7 This project added 7 miles of distribution lines from the Alan Rendl Pump Station to nine water- receiving facilities. • Timeline: Construction began in 2023; service began in 2024 • Cost: $5.78 million
SOURCE: NORTH HARRIS COUNTY REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT
The background
What it means
members who unseated longtime incumbents in 2022. While the cuts provide short-term relief for water users, Chang said a nancial adviser esti- mated they could only last another six months before an increase is likely. The NHCRWA could see rates exceed $8 per 1,000 gallons by 2032.
Water rates customers pay correlate to how much debt is incurred from bonds issued for building water infrastructure, Chang said. Despite ongoing projects, the NHCRWA’s rates are now at their lowest in a decade after the board cut rates over the past two years following the election of three new board
Turco described subsidence as the gradual sink- ing of land caused by the extraction of uids from an aquifer system. As groundwater is pumped out, the water levels within the aquifer decline, causing the clay layers in the aquifer to depressurize and compact.
Understanding subsidence
An aquifer is an underground rock structure containing water. Original land surface elevation 1 2
Water rate trends in northwest Harris County If the local water authority doesn’t meet its surface water conversion targets by the end of the year, the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District will implement a disincentive fee to encourage compliance with groundwater reduction requirements. Residents would pay this fee instead of the water pumpage fee.
2
NHCRWA groundwater
NHCRWA surface water
HGSD disincentive fee
1
$6
$2 $4
Silt & clay: Prior to excessive groundwater use, clay and silt layers are loosely packed.
Gravel & sand: After long-term groundwater withdrawals, clay and silt layers compact.
$0
2015
2016
2017
2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2025
$7
$7
$8.46
$8.75
$9
$9.24
$9.58
$9.80
$10.78
$11.86 $12.12
SOURCE: HARRIS GALVESTON SUBSIDENCE DISTRICT COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: NORTH HARRIS COUNTY REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT
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