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Austin Water shifts ASR testing away from Bastrop, outlines field-testing and reuse strategies
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Summary
Austin Water told the commission that a proposed Bastrop County collaboration to field-test aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) was withdrawn and staff will pursue Phase 1b field testing on city-owned land in Eastern Travis County, while continuing work on Lake Walter E. Long, indirect potable reuse planning and exploratory brackish desalination work with council funding expected in early 2026 for Phase 1b scopes.
Marisa Flores Gonzalez of the Austin Water Resource Team updated the commission Dec. 10 on implementation of Water Forward 2024 supply strategies and an adaptive management approach that ties milestones and lake-storage triggers to potential acceleration or modification of projects.
Gonzalez told commissioners the council withdrew a draft Bastrop County collaboration agreement on Nov. 20 and "Austin Water is not pursuing field testing in Bastrop County." She said staff will evaluate other field-testing options and identified near-term plans to conduct Phase 1b field testing in Eastern Travis County on City-owned land, focusing on the Trinity Aquifer. The Phase 1b scope includes designing and drilling test wells, groundwater and core sampling, laboratory geochemical analysis, forming an ASR/brackish-tech advisory group and community engagement.
Gonzalez framed the portfolio as flexible: aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) originally targeted higher yields later this century, Lake Walter E. Long (a concept that would divert Colorado River water and store up to 16,156 acre-feet/year under a recent TCEQ water-right amendment) requires siting and water-quality work, indirect potable reuse (IPR) could be deployed along nonemergency or emergency pathways tied to Highland Lakes combined storage triggers, and brackish groundwater desalination is under study with potential to accelerate timelines if pilot data support it.
On IPR, Gonzalez said the strategy would use highly treated reclaimed water from the South Austin Regional (SAAR) wastewater plant routed to Lady Bird Lake and a new intake only under severe-drought triggers; she noted the nonemergency implementation pathway could lead to construction by about 2035, while an emergency pathway would use temporary infrastructure to accelerate deployment after a defined trigger.
Commissioners asked whether the Bastrop withdrawal delayed ASR timelines; Gonzalez said the Bastrop project had already been slipping in schedule and that the revised, phased approach — focusing on smaller, distributed ASR pilot sites on City land — could allow smaller yields sooner and better data to scale future projects. She said staff expects to request council authorization and additional funding for Phase 1b field testing in early 2026 and to begin community engagement and technical design work pending that authorization.
The commission did not vote on any supply projects during the meeting. Several commissioners asked staff to brief the commission before launching community outreach in Eastern Travis County so members could observe and provide input.
