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Bowmont proposes major water and wastewater investments, including a new raw‑water pump station and lead‑service-line work
Summary
Staff detailed water and wastewater CIP priorities: annual water‑line replacement, lead‑and‑copper investigations and replacement programs, a new raw water line and pump station for resiliency ($23.6M and $30.2M), and a $28M moving‑bed biofilm reactor upgrade at the wastewater plant; several projects are FEMA or federal grant funded.
City staff presented an extensive slate of water and wastewater capital investments intended to improve drinking water reliability, regulatory compliance and sewer system resilience.
Water projects included an annual dead‑end flushing program (~$1.24M), a planned annual water‑line replacement program with a multi‑year target (the presentation listed an annual program sized within a larger $68.25M replacement planning target), and Buns Canal improvements (~$5.5M) to repair levees, remove sediment and replace a manual bar screen with an automated system to protect intake pumps. Staff described Lawson's Canal maintenance and rehabilitation as a FEMA‑funded project (~$18.75M) to re‑anchor a raw water pipeline damaged during Hurricane Harvey and to improve access for inspection.
Two EPA‑driven actions were highlighted: a lead and copper field investigation (~$6.65M) to identify service lines on both the customer and city sides, and a subsequent service‑line replacement program (~$7.96M) to comply with EPA lead and copper rule improvements. Staff said the field investigation informs the replacement prioritization.
Staff also presented a resiliency package that included annual water production system repairs, transmission‑line inspections and two major projects to add redundancy: a 48‑inch raw water line from a new pump station at Collier's Ferry to the Pine Street Water Treatment Plant (~$23.65M) and a new 45‑million‑gallon‑per‑day raw water pump station (~$30.2M) sited on higher ground to reduce single‑point‑of‑failure risk during extreme weather.
On wastewater, Mike Harris reviewed an ongoing 23rd Street trunk‑line rehabilitation and annual collection‑system renewal (the utility operates ~746 miles of sewer mains; staff aims to rehabilitate roughly 1–1.4% annually). He described lift‑station upgrades and a FY27 increase for a comprehensive lift‑station assessment and permanent generator installations to improve resilience during outages. Treatment‑plant investments included grit removal, headworks improvements, pond/canal maintenance and a major moving‑bed biofilm reactor upgrade (~$28M) designed to increase capacity and effluent quality to meet regulatory expectations.
Council members asked which FY27 projects would most reduce home sewer backups; staff pointed to trunk‑line and collection‑system rehabilitation and prioritized lift‑station repairs and assessments. Staff noted revenue bonds (enterprise financing) are an available financing tool to accelerate work but acknowledged rate impacts are a policy choice for council to consider.
