A newly expanded board of directors for the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority listened but took no action on possible locations for the deep water intake site on April 21.
The now six-member BCRUA board met for the first time April 21 as each participating city board member introduced the new members. Added to the board as non-voting citizen-directors are Round Rock Councilwoman Kris Whitfield, Leander Councilman Chris Fielder and Cedar Park Councilman Lowell Moore.
Drew Hardin of Jacobs Engineering presented the due diligence study on deep water intake sites and pipeline types for phase two of the project that will supply Leander, Cedar Park and Round Rock with a 50-year supply of water from Lake Travis.
All three options involve passing through the village of Volente, although to varying degrees. The 84-inch pipeline will have a capacity of 141.7 million gallons a day; it’s estimated to be operational in 2018 – after funding is released and an estimated 48 months of construction.
The deep water intake due diligence study is available online at www.bcrua.org.
Hardin said they weighed more than 40 criteria in selecting possible sites; the four major factors considered were feasibility and cost, community impacts, environmental impacts and project risks (including permits, easements required and fee simple purchases).
Prices for the three recommended options fell between $141.1 million to $150.5 million.
The lowest projected cost alternative, Hardin said, was alternative 4.1 – an open-cut trench along Bernard Street in the village of Volente with a price tag of $141.1 million, but it has the highest impact because of the open-cut pipeline.
Alternatives 4.2 and 8 call for tunneling, which eliminates the impact of the pipeline construction; both alternatives cost at least an additional $9 million.
None of the estimated costs factor in the cost of adding electric lines for the project.
The pump station in alternative 8 is located on park property and would require a Chapter 26 hearing by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to prove that there are no other “prudent and feasible alternatives.”
Alternative 8 has the least disturbance to the village of Volente, Hardin said, where many of the residents and city staff have opposed the project since its inception.
Although the engineering firm’s top recommendation was alternative 4.1, BCRUA president Mitch Fuller showed interest in alternative 8, even though there are more legal requirements needed to secure site 8. Part of the land needed is located in Sandy Creek Park, a Travis County park.
Although no city staff or official representatives from the village of Volente attended, Volente resident Judy Graci was there. She repeated her three-year-old request for the BCRUA to conduct three studies – a cost impact, a benefit study and a peer review.
After the presentation, Fuller asked Graci – a vocal opponent of the project who frequently attends BCRUA-related meetings in the area and questions the process – if she would support the BCRUA’s efforts at a Chapter 26 meeting.
Without answering the question directly, she said, “Let’s look at something outside of the village of Volente. Having an intake site in an established, residential neighborhood; it was wrong from the beginning.”
In other updates, construction manager Mike Thuss said complaints from Trails End residents had increased significantly during the last two months, where construction on the pipeline had been active.
Last week, a dump truck operator “snagged a Time Warner line and pole,” Thuss said, which then closed the road for two hours and cut power. Power was restored and the road reopened.
Pipeline construction along the southern end of Trails End should be done this week, Thuss said, and initial landscape restoration efforts should begin.