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Private well proposal offers rapid interim water capacity; city staff raise technical concerns
Summary
A privately funded proposal to add eight small wells across four sites could deliver interim supply faster than larger projects, but city engineers cited concerns about aquifer mixing, corrosion control studies, site footprints and long‑term operating costs.
Judge Bart Sadler and representatives from Elevation Land Solutions presented a privately funded proposal on July 9 for an eight‑well system intended to deliver interim water capacity to relieve constrained pressure planes in northern and western Conroe.
Sadler described the project as a stopgap — “not a solution to your ultimate water problem,” he said — but one that could be built faster than some larger regional alternatives. He said the system would include eight 500‑GPM wells (one thousand gallon per day phrasing in materials corresponded to per‑well capacity) on four sites, use existing storage where possible, include backup generators and be GRP/SGRA‑compliant. He presented three business models: direct city purchase at a markup, wholesale purchase, or a lease‑purchase arrangement.
Elevation Land Solutions CEO John Unterreiner said the firm had experience delivering rapid well projects for master‑planned communities and estimated a May 2026 earliest delivery with an overall project timeline of 7–12 months. Sadler and Unterreiner estimated total project costs in the $12–$16 million range with a target sale price of $15–$21.5 million; they projected gross profit in the low millions with limited net profit after debt service and operating expenses.
Why it matters: Conroe is operating under constrained water pressure planes and has several city and developer projects in flight; rapidly adding supply could relieve immediate shortages but carries technical and long‑term operational trade‑offs.
City staff reactions: Public Works staff and the water operations team raised several technical concerns. Director Maguire noted the city’s existing plant footprints and said many plants were designed with room to add a like‑capacity (Jasper) well rather than several smaller wells. Staff warned that combining aquifers (Upper Evangeline vs deeper Jasper formations) would likely require a new corrosion‑control study and sampling period — estimated by staff at roughly four to five months once wells are operating — and could trigger distribution‑system adjustments.
Maguire and other staff said drilling two larger remote Jasper wells could produce an equivalent quantity of water with lower long‑term operations and maintenance costs and fewer complications on site footprint and electrical loading. They also raised subsidence risks for some well depths and flagged the requirement to pay SGRA (San Jacinto River Authority) pumpage fees under GRP rules; Sadler suggested the city could seek an exemption for emergency supply as part of future negotiations with SGRA.
Council reaction and next steps: Several council members welcomed the creative approach but said they were reluctant to move immediately because the city recently received state and CIDC funding for water projects and because Water Plant 29 and other city projects may come online in the near term. Council asked staff to continue vetting technical, legal and financial issues; no decision was made at the July 9 meeting.
Staff directions included further technical analysis of aquifer compatibility, electrical capacity at candidate plant sites, and updated cost/benefit comparisons between drilling larger municipal wells and accepting a private build-and-sell offer.
