Water, Water, Does Georgetown Have Water?

City Councilman Steve Fought has an excellent and informative analysis in his current newsletter to his constituents.

The current drought, or near-drought, conditions prompted various concerns about whether Georgetown has fallen behind on our infrastructure for Water and Wastewater.  These are legitimate concerns, and not ones which can be answered "once and for all" -- the whole "water" supply and production process really demands revisiting from time to time, and now is a good time.  

Potable Water  

Let's begin by distinguishing between our supply of raw (untreated) water and our ability to produce treated (potable) water for customer consumption.  A prior City Council directed the City Staff to use a 50-year time horizon to plan for potable water and to have enough raw water supply, and treatment capacity over time, to accommodate growth in that time-horizon.  The reason for the 50-year horizon is that it takes much longer to develop and secure water than it does for other resources which are needed to accommodate growth (such as electricity or roads).  

The City Staff prepared the following chart showing our supply of raw water versus projected demand (based on the forecast rate of growth).

 The Yellow Line depicts the demand for raw water based on current usage and forecast growth. The lower Green Line shows that same relationship, but with conservation.  In either case the data indicates the City has more than enough raw water to meet the demands of growth until around 2050 (and beyond, depending on the assumptions about conservation).  But after that the City will need additional raw water -- and that will be a priority task over the next few years.*  

In the meantime, the next question is: Does the City have enough treatment capacity to convert the raw water into potable water to meet demands?  

The simple answer is yes, for the time being -- but not over the long haul.  In order to meet the demands for potable water, the City needs to increase its treatment capacity.  The strategy to manage the gap between the demands for treated water, and the ability to treat the available raw water is: 

1.  Have enough water treatment capability to meet the average daily demand for potable water.2.  Use storage tanks to manage the daily variation in demand by producing potable water during periods of low demand, then releasing the water into the system as the demand increases throughout the day.3.  When the immediate demand for treated water exceeds the supply, restrict irrigation to reduce the demand.**4.  Before the average daily demand for potable water exceeds the current capacity, expand the current capability and/or build a new water treatment facility.  

To support this strategy, the City has developed a capital improvement plan which:  

1.  Expands the water storage capacity by adding above ground and ground level tanks (e.g., the new Sun City Elevated Water Storage Tank, and a similar one on DB Wood). 

2.  Expands the current Lake Treatment Facility (behind HEB on Williams Drive). 

3.  Sets in motion a process to build an entirely new Water Treatment Facility (The South Lake Plant), beginning in 2021, at a total cost of approximately $100 Million.  (The new facility will be located, as the name implies, on the South Side of Lake Georgetown.)  

This, in simple terms, is "just in time" potable water -- which conforms with the objective of staying ahead of "growth" but not so far ahead that we build unneeded infrastructure and incur an unwarranted tax burden.

Raw Water 

I see where Georgetown is selling a lot of excess water to the "Blanchard" Company -- some 10,000 acre feet.  What's the deal here -- did we buy more water than we needed and now we have to sell it at a loss, just like the electric company?  

In 2006 we "exchanged" House Bill (HB) 1437 water in the LCRA basin for 10,000 acre-ft of water from the Brazos River Authority (BRA).  Round Rock contracted for the HB 1437 that we released.  At the time, Round Rock had determined that HB 1437 water made more sense (due to proximity) than water in the Stillhouse/Belton system.  We also determined that BRA water made available through the Williamson County Regional Raw Water Line (WCRRWL), via the Stillhouse pipeline made more sense than moving water from the south (at its higher cost due to the inter-basin transfer provisions of HB 1437).  

The acquisition of water is guided by prior Council direction to maintain a 50 year water supply.  The long time-horizon is because water resources take substantially more time to develop than energy sources.  Current surface water supplies in Central Texas are fully contracted with the exception of 3,472 acre-ft of HB 1437 water that BRA is holding for us in anticipation of contract execution sometime in the near future.  Ground water supply through the aquifers that we overlay is fully utilized.  Other Ground water supplies are being evaluated, but will be much more costly than our current sources.  

The Blanchard contract allows another entity (the Blanchard Corporation) to use a portion of our contracted water (the portion that we do not use now, and will not fully use until the water system doubles in size) until we need it sometime after the end of the deal in 2029.  

The BRA system rate has changed almost every year since 2006 when the rate was $49.65 per acre-ft.  The current BRA system rate is $79.00 per acre-ft.  Per the terms of the Blanchard deal, Blanchard will pay us 125% of our cost ($98.75 per acre-ft in 2020.)  The price to Blanchard will continue to be 125% of our cost (set annually by BRA).   

It's important to note that the terms of our agreements for all of our surface water supplies are that we pay for the water regardless of whether or not we use it.   At the current point in time, we pay for what we use annually at this point of growth (44,000 connections) AND 23 years of future water supply (enough for approximately 96,000 connections).  Put more simply, the current 44,000 customers are paying for water resources needed for 96,000 customers. This "long" position is required to allow for growth given the nature of water resource contracting.  The Blanchard revenue offsets the current cost being borne by current customers to allow additional infrastructure or resource investment without putting pressure on current rates.

The only additional relevant information with respect to the Brazos River Authority water is that it is in Belton Lake and there is currently no way to get that water to Georgetown. Thus it makes sense to sell the water to Blanchard who can access it through the Brazos River.

There is an ongoing effort to get a pipeline between Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Lake which will give Georgetown access to the Belton Lake in the future.