Finding the flow From the cover
What's happening?
a 38% conversion, which is not 60% where we were supposed to be,” NHCRWA Program Manager Amber Batson said at a March 3 board meeting. “However, on the positive side, it’s the highest month of conversion that we’ve had so far. So we’re going in the right direction,” The board of directors approved moving forward on a design for Project Series 39–a $164.96 million project to construct over 11 new miles of distribution pipeline and 11 new water reclamation facilities.
The authority was required to have no more than 70% of its total water usage come from groundwater sources by 2010. By the end of 2025, the authority was supposed to have reduced total groundwater usage to only 40%. However, NHCRWA officials said the agency has only been able to convert around 35%-38% of its total water users from groundwater since 2010—roughly 22% below the required 60% use reduction set for 2025. “We actually achieved in the month of December
The North Harris County Regional Water Authority on March 3 moved forward on a final design for Project Series 39, a Spring-area project designed to help the district catch up with a mandated 60% groundwater reduction plan. As part of a regional effort to reduce groundwater usage, the Houston-Galveston Subsidence District, or HGSD, in 1999 mandated water providers to convert to primarily surface water sources to combat land sinking—otherwise known as subsidence.
Project 39
Segment 1
Segment 2
Segment 3
7 new water reclamation facilities
45
2 new water reclamation facilities
99 TOLL
2 new water reclamation facilities
SPRING STUEBNER RD..
45
1960
45
1.5 miles of new distribution pipeline
1 mile of new distribution pipeline
8.5 miles of new distribution pipeline
N
N
N
SOURCE: NORTH HARRIS COUNTY REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
NHCRWA forecasted water rates According to NHCRWA officials, residents could potentially see significantly higher water bills over the next 10 years as the agency works to meet the water use requirements through infrastructure improvements. Groundwater Surface water
The cost
groundwater reduction requirements as opposed to other areas. “This seems punitive to everybody that follows the rules,” Harris County MUD 61 Director Jerry Owens said. “There’s a lot of reasons as to why people [and] districts use groundwater. … We need to put something else together to go after the low percentage of people who aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do.” However, officials clarified that groundwater usage across the 330 MUDs and cities can vary due to several factors, including maintenance issues or having no available surface water sources to convert to independently of the NHCRWA. “In April, we should see a substantial jump in water that goes out into the system, as we’ve got a lot of those 24 water plants hooked up,” Batson said.
The NHCRWA supports over 750,000 water users and 330 municipal utility districts and cities, officials said. NHCRWA General Manager Jun Chang said the authority is responsible for overseeing conversion at each of the agencies. The HGSD mandate requires the NHCRWA to meet several conversion benchmarks or face fees from the HGSD for every 1,000 gallons of ground- water used above the conversion rate. Batson said the effort to reduce groundwater usage from 30% to 60% is already a $2.4 billion initiative, which may not be achieved until 2031. In order to fund the improvements throughout northern Harris County, water fees will also likely see significant increases over the next decade. However, several individuals expressed frustra- tion with the projected rate increase, saying some MUDs have done more work on their end to meet
$0 $3
$6
$9
$12
$15
$3.69 $4.14
2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035
$12.00 $12.40
SOURCE: NORTH HARRIS COUNTY REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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