By Moses Leos III.
In a measure meant to ensure the west side of the city doesn’t go dry in the future, Buda is preparing to bring the Westside Well to life.
The projected cost ranges from $724,000 to $972,000 and city leaders say the goal is to help Buda meet future water needs, spurred by the city’s rapid growth.
According to the Capital Area Metropolitan Organization’s (CAMPO) Growth Monitoring Report, which measured the regions’ growth from 2007-2011, Buda is the fastest growing city in the area.
During that time, the city saw a 45 percent increase in single and multifamily units. In the 2008-2012 Growth Monitoring Report, Buda saw a 141.9 percent jump in residential growth from 2011 to 2012.
Generalized cross-sectional diagram |
With the anticipated expansion of the city, Buda officials see the need to expand the city’s water system.
Buda’s projected new well, which is planned for construction near the Garlic Creek booster pump station (BPS), would draw water from the Edward’s Aquifer.
According to Mayor Todd Ruge, bringing a well to the west side has been in the city’s Capital Improvement Project (CIP) for the past several years. City leaders added the project to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013-14 budget.
“It’s been planned for a while,” Ruge said. “[The well is] a proactive measure we’re taking. The timing to do it is right now.”
However, the project almost didn’t happen.
Buda nearly delayed the well, as the city projected an almost $900,000 shortfall in the FY 13-14 budget. Along with the well, Buda also tabbed the $2.9 million Bonita Vista reconstruction for this fiscal year.
The only way to include both projects, and get the city back in the black, was to increase the property tax rate to .29 cents per $100 evaluation.
Several measures, including raising the property tax to .29 cents per $100 evaluation, kept both projects on the books and the city in the black.
Now, the well project is on its way to fruition.
According to city engineer Stanley Fees, the project will take about 15 months from the notice to proceed. Tuesday night, Buda hired Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam to help design the new well at a cost of $ 194,372. That cost was figured into the city’s $975,000 well budget.
The city’s largest obstacle is acquiring permission to drill from the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) and acceptance from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Fees anticipates the entire permitting and acceptance process will take roughly six months to complete.
He said the city is in the process of submitting an application to the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD).
If approved, the city would gain a fifth well to draw water out of the aquifer. Buda has four existing well permits from the BSEACD, with each drawing out an aggregate of 0.7534 million gallons per day (MGD). The city’s annual limit is 275 million gallons.
The new Westside Well would not provide for pumping more than the permitted allotment; all five wells would still have to add up to Buda’s limit.
What is unknown is how deep Buda will drill. According to Fees, the city must conduct well and aquifer testing, which he estimates will take two and a half months.
Fees projects drilling only five test wells.
“We do not anticipate needing more than five test wells,” he said. “That will vary once we get out there and start drilling.”
Buda aims to place the well near existing fault lines and conduits in the earth. According to Fees, the practice would allow the well to obtain the most water from the aquifer.
Fees said the city narrowed the choices to three locales for the Westside Well. Two of the locations are north of the Garlic Creek area. Those locations are on city-owned property, with the least-expensive option near the Garlic Creek Booster Pump Station (BPS).
GCWS-05 LTD owns the third, and what is described as the most expensive, location. To place a well in that location, Buda would have to replat the land for residential use. The city would also have to traverse Garlic Creek with 1,100 lineal feet (LF) of piping. This option falls anywhere between $891,000 and $972,000.
Each site would add infrastructure to deliver water to the Garlic Creek BPS. In addition, three options would account for the new well. Two of those include adding new operating features, along with adding several hundred lineal feet (LF) of piping.
Fees said the new well would help improve water pressure in the Garlic Creek and Creekside Village neighborhoods.
Most importantly, it would create a “loop,” ensuring water delivery even if a line broke. It also would reduce any stress on the downtown wells and the Garlic Creek EST.
Councilmember Angela Kennedy, who has worked with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), has seen cities combat water line disruptions. She believes the city is taking the right steps to prevent a major catastrophe.
“[Buda] is not putting its head in the sand,” she said. “[The city] is aware of its long-term issues.”
Ruge said with the Westside Well, the city gains an additional water source, adding to its allowance from the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority.
“It’s just another piece of puzzle for [Buda’s] water system,” he said.
