Development
A project to pull water from the deepest locations of Lake Travis to supply the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority—a partnership made up of the cities of Round Rock, Leander and Cedar Park—is roughly halfway complete. Once completed, the BCRUA’s Raw Water Intake project will have the capacity to pump 145 million gallons of raw water from the lake per day. The project is meant to help the three cities meet future water demands by providing a stable source year-round. Phase 1 of the project included the construction of a oating barge and raw water system on Lake Travis, pulling roughly 32 million gallons of water per day from the lake. However, o cials say the barges are susceptible to drought conditions. Once the deep-water project is nished, the barge system will be discontinued. “This is going to give us protection under severe droughts,” said Michael Thane, Round Rock Public Works director. “So when the lake is dropping, we’ll still be able to pump water.” Lake Travis water pipeline progresses
BCRUA Raw Water Intake Project 1 Raw water intake
4 Raw water pump station
2 BCRUA maintenance building
5 Proposed piping connection
3 Existing Cedar Park Water Treatment Plant
6 Existing Sandy Creek Water Treatment Plant
1
New BCRUA intake tunnel New BCRUA transmission tunnel Existing BCRUA water pipe
Lake Travis
2
5
6
4
3
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SOURCE: BRUSHY CREEK REGIONAL UTILITY AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT © GOOGLE EARTH
Water distribution for Phase 2 of the BCRUA's Raw Water Intake project The member cities of the BCRUA will each contribute funding for the new project, proportional to the amount of water each city will receive.
The details
The other side
The deep water intake project, which began in 2022, includes the construction of a two-mile pipeline delivering water from intake screens to a new pump station. A raw water transmission tunnel and pipeline will move the pumped water to existing Cedar Park, Leander and BCRUA water treatment plants. Thane said the combination of BCRUA proj- ects, along with its other sources, secures Round Rock’s water well into the future. “This will take us a long way out there—prob- ably around 2070 and 270,000 customers,” he said. “So we have water under contract that can meet our demands for the next 45 years.” In 2022, the BCRUA approved a contract with Thalle Construction Co. and SAK Construction for $224.8 million to build the intake system. The total cost is estimated at $293 million and is funded with cash contributions and contract revenue bonds, according to the BCRUA. Also under construction is Phase 2A, at a cost of $120 million, to increase the BCRUA water treatment plant’s capacity to about 65 MGD.
Lakes Travis and Buchanan serve as the primary water supply reservoirs in the Highland Lakes system. The last time both lakes were full was July 2019, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority. As of April 15, the lakes combined were 48% full. The Central Texas Water Coalition is an organization dedicated to protecting the water resources of the Highland Lakes, including Lake Travis. The CTWC calls for increased conservation and planning mea- sures in lieu of historically low in ows into the lake, which the organization attributes to thousands of unregulated upstream ponds, Executive Director Shannon Hamilton said. “Whether we like it or not, it’s coming online. We just have to plan for it,“ Hamil- ton said. “We’re just not getting the same amount of water that we used to get for the same amount of rainfall. ... I don’t know when another rain event is coming, but I do know that we’ve got a lot of people relying on our lakes, and this is what we have today.”
Round Rock: 40.8 MGD Cedar Park: 42 MGD Leander: 62 MGD
29%
42.8%
28.2%
Total 144.8 MGD
Cost distribution
Round Rock: $63.4 million Cedar Park: $65.1 million Leander: $96.3 million
29%
42.8%
28.2%
Total $224.8M
SOURCE: BRUSHY CREEK REGIONAL UTILITY AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT
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