We'll go ahead and get started at this meeting of the service delivery committee of city council.

My name is Julian Ramirez.

I'm vice chair of this committee.

I'll be filling in for uh committee chair, Tarsha Jackson.

And with us today we have Council Members Sally Alcorn and Amy Peck, as well as staff from Councilmember Castillo's office, Councilmember Martinez office, Councilmember Castex Tatum's office, Councilmember Thomas's office, and Councilmember Kamen's office.

So thank you all for being here.

The committee presentation today we have with us one item of business, and that's a presentation on the Trinity River Water Conveyance System, Capital Improvements Project.

And we have here uh Drew Molly, who is Chief Water Officer for the City, and Gay Musio, Senior Assistant Director as well.

And we have a third gentleman.

Mr.

Greg Olinger.

Mr.

Greg Ollinger from Coastal Water Authority.

Greg Ollinger from the Coastal Water Authority.

All right.

Drew, thank you for being here.

I'll go ahead and turn it over to you and you can uh proceed when you're ready.

Great.

Thank you, Councilman.

Uh as just mentioned, my name is Drew Molly, Chief Water Officer for the City of Houston.

Uh it's my pleasure to be here today uh to present some key capital improvement projects that uh the Coastal Water Authority is uh is implementing.

Uh as mentioned uh Can I just stop you for a minute, uh Drew?

You're fairly new to the city.

Am I right on that?

I I am so if you could just kind of briefly introduce yourself and your experience a little bit.

Yeah, I'd appreciate that.

You bet.

So um I I worked for the city of Houston for about 16 years in uh 2022.

I took a position down at the city of Corpus Christi where I was the chief uh operating officer for the city of Corpus Christi, uh worked there for about three years and uh came back.

Very excited to be back home.

I you know spent a lot of years living in Houston.

I I consider Houston, you know, very near and dear to my heart.

So it's it's great to be back.

Well, we're glad to have you back.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

So uh as mentioned, Councilman, I'm joined here by Greg Olinger, who's the general manager for Coastal Water Authority, and then Gabe Gabriel Musio, who's our senior assistant director uh in drinking water operations.

I I do want to mention that that pretty much everything here that in terms of the the finances and the budgets that that has all been approved by city council last month.

So this is an opportunity for us to come uh basically uh present uh and sort of kind of a refresh on the projects that Coastal Water Authority is going to be implementing.

Um so I'll go to the next slide.

So just sort of as a refresher, let me begin by um just providing you with a little bit of background uh on the Coastal Water Authority.

So the Coastal Water Authority is a conservation and reclamation district.

Um they they were created in 1967.

Uh it's basically governed by a seven-member board, uh, four appointed by the mayor of Houston, and then three appointees by the uh governor of Texas.

Uh next slide.

So the primary purpose, uh the primary purpose of C was to construct and operate uh pump stations, canals, and pipelines, which uh and then basically deliver surface water.

That surface water is owned by the city of Houston.

That surface water is ultimately delivered to three municipal uh drinking water facilities.

Many of you know those three.

This the Northeast water purification plant, the southeast plant, the east water plant, and then of course uh our industrial partners is also supplied this water.

It basically ranges anywhere between one and one point five billion gallons of water a day.

Next slide.

So these are the projects, the the summary of the Trinity River conveyance projects that we're um gonna present to you today and talk a little bit about.

So these are the three projects.

Uh the first one is is uh facility building improvements uh totaled at 36.417 million dollars.

There is a Trinity River system supervisory control and data acquisition component to this at $6 million, and then lastly, there's uh some access road improvements at the Trinity River Pump Station uh at valued at $4 million.

So the total uh investment across these three packages is 46.417 million dollars.

Next slide.

So all of these uh projects have multi-year delivery in terms of the timeline.

Uh the timeline, as you can see here, the facility building improvements project is estimated completion date 2027, as well as the Trinity River uh SCADA system, and then the uh Trinity River Pump Station Access Road is scheduled to be delivered by 2026 this year.

Next slide.

You know, this is probably one of the more key uh slides that I I wanted to just run through a little bit.

It it's it's a map of the Coastal Water Authority uh raw water system.

It's it's a massive system.

And I think what's important to note on this is you can see kind of in the center at the very top is the largest reservoir that we uh we own and operate, or actually we own it.

Uh Trinity River uh actually operates it, but it's a 1.8 million acre feet uh reservoir.

By by land size, it's the second largest reservoir in in the state of Texas.

Uh and then in terms of just capacity size, it's about the seventh largest reservoir.

So water from Lake Livingston essentially flows out uh of the lake through a dam, and that water is conveyed all the way down, and you can see you know the river as far as how that water conveys down.

And and as it as it goes down the Trinity River, there's a couple offshoots to that uh conveyance system.

So the first one is the Capers Ridge Pump Station.

Many of you may be familiar with that pump station.

It's a relatively new pump station built uh in 2020, and uh that Capers Ridge Pump Station has the capacity to divert about 500 million gallons a day up to uh over to Lake Houston.

Uh and then water continues down the Trinity River, ultimately to the Trinity River Pump Station, where then there's a series of canals uh that take uh up to one 1.3 billion gallons a day of water that then flows down to either industrial partners or to our Lynchburg Pump Station.

Um and so that that is uh on the easternmost extent of our raw water conveyance system, and then what you'll see on this map is you'll see uh two other lakes, uh, one being Lake Conroe, which is about a 430,000 acre foot reservoir that's on the San Jacinto River though uh river watershed, uh, and then down south of that is of course Lake Houston.

Um this map also you can see there are our three surface water treatment plants the East Plant, Northeast Plant, Southeast Plant, and then those those facilities convey treat the water for municipal needs and transport that water across the across the city.

Uh next slide.

So the Trinity River Pump Station, uh it is the heart of the conveyance system.

It is the largest raw water pump station in Texas with approximately 1.1 billion gallons of capacity.

Um it was constructed in 1972, and it's located on the western uh bank of the Trinity River.

You can see this slide shows the pump station.

You can see the main canal in the background where the water is essentially lifted out of the river and then conveyed into the 22-mile canal system.

Next slide.

So this is uh the main canal from the Trinity River Pump Station.

The water enters the main canal, and uh, and then as I mentioned, you've got a 22-mile-long pipeline conveyance that can deliver up to 1.3 million gallons a day.

As mentioned on the slide, it was constructed between uh 69, 1969 and 1972.

Next slide.

And we have the Lynchburg Pump Station.

So pump capacity of uh 921 million gallons of water per day.

Uh it was constructed in 1970.

Um, and this is a really key facility for us because it provides uh water, raw water to our east water plant and our southeast water plant.

You know, I was given a presentation um, this is probably a couple weeks ago to uh a professional water and wastewater group, and one of the things that I uh noted from a clipping from 1970 was was was council actually voted against the Lynchburg Pump Station from being built, and it had to go back.

There had to be another action to try to get council to convince to be convinced to support that project.

And I think a lot of us in the water profession kind of wonder what would have happened if Lynchburg Pump Station hadn't been built.

So these are the kind of things that uh when you look back in time, it's it's interesting to see kind of how history sometimes plays a role and the criticality of making sure infrastructure projects are delivered to provide that safe drinking water to our community and to our industrial partners.

Next slide.

So let's look at the CIP uh items here.

Um so we we have three three different assets that we're talking about.

We have the Trinity River Pump Station, we have a canal maintenance station, and we have the Lynchburg Pump Station.

Essentially, um the these buildings that we're talking about are nearing their end of life uh service.

Many buildings uh so we had a condition assessment that was done um in 2024 and it confirmed what we uh uh projected, which was uh there was widespread needs.

Um the goals of this project are to improve the safety and resilience, uh, particularly when we put uh staff and teams uh in ride out conditions.

Uh we we oftentimes have to do that when we respond to emergency events.

We consider ourselves in the in the water and wastewater space as first responders.

We're we're we have to be prepared.

Uh and a lot of times when we have these situations where we have events unfolding, we we put staff where we need them and we deploy them effectively to be responsive to the event that uh is occurring.

Um the architectural design uh is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of this year, and the project is anticipated to be delivered through an alternative delivery method known as uh construction manager at risk, CMAR.

The bottom line is that CMAR gives us pre-construction collaboration and really better kind of cost certainty, uh which is certainly important uh when we're talking about delivering this project uh in an active operating uh facility.

Next slide.

The second component of the proposed work uh is the what we call is SCADA modernization.

So as I mentioned earlier, SCADA, what that stands for is uh supervisory control and data acquisition.

It's really just a fancy word for uh tools that are used to actively monitor and control uh field instrumentation that's in the field to make sure that we're running these facilities and we're monitoring them and making sure they're doing what they're supposed to.

Um many of the SCADA components uh are at their end of life or they're obsolete.

Uh see what uh assess these assets in 2024 and finalize the SCADA master plan in 2025.

And as I mentioned, the program includes a modernization and some cybersecurity improvements to make sure that they have the protections that they need.

I I would say just really the bottom line is is that you know, modern controls reduce downtime risk, it improves response time and aligns with uh our today's uh cybersecurity threats that that uh that sometimes uh are a challenge.

Next slide.

And then lastly, uh the access road to the Trinity River Pump Station uh requires full restoration.

The existing access road uh is is asphalt over crushed rock base, uh, and it has deteriorated to a point that it's really beyond its useful life.

Uh the new design uh uses mostly concrete with asphalt to support some of the heavy equipment.

There's a lot of heavy equipment that uh is is transported on this on this access road.

Um and so really again the bottom line on this is that ensuring reliable access uh to these facilities enables uh everything to happen safely and and on schedule.

Next slide.

Well, I will be true to my word.

I was quick as I could be to run through these slides.

So um I just want to say in closing, Council members, I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here.

Um we always appreciate the chance to uh share information that we're doing.

Um we've got a lot of folks that depend on us, we know it.

And uh so any time we have a chance to talk to you and give you updates and brief you, we're we're happy to do it.

So with that, I'll close and happy to take any questions that you have.

Thank you, Drew.

Uh a lot of important stuff here.

We have Councilmember Alcorn with some questions.

Thank you, Drew.

Thanks for the uh detail on this.

Uh we got a bunch of money, like 100 million dollars from the state for Lynchburg, right?

So how does that factor into this 40?

Is that just in addition to the 46 million we're spending of our money?

Yeah, so so the the money that you're talking about, Councilwoman, is money that is uh is appropriated uh through the Texas Water Development Board.

Right.

Um and so that that money is is pissed.

Is that like SWIFT loans?

Well, you know what, and and I may I may actually have Greg come up and maybe just kind of help help that with that question, Greg, if you don't mind.

Yep.

Yes, thank you, Councilwoman, for the uh question.

The 100 million dollars we received uh last year is is a uh direct appropriation from the legislature that is being administered through Texas Water Development Board, and that um grant is for the purpose of um completely replacing all of the pumps, motors, and uh variable frequency drives, plus some of the electrical uh equipment, uh substation equipment that uh basically powers all of Lynchburg pump station.

Okay.

And so the 46 million or what I I can't remember the other uh if you can go to the slide that shows the breakout of funding for each project.

Um that's on top of what we're spending.

That hundred million is on top, like we're just doing the other stuff that doesn't have to do with the actual pumps themselves.

That is correct.

Okay.

Correct.

Okay.

Great.

That was my question.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Alcorn.

Um Drew, you mentioned council has already approved uh these expenditures.

And um curious to know uh are there some additional large uh uh or important votes coming up uh that will that will um involve uh a lot of spending uh regarding our water system?

Well, I I I would answer that question by saying the short answer is is yes.

There's a lot of needs that are out there.

Um I would say that you know Houston's not alone in this.

Every city is is you know, I I don't want to say the word struggling, but every city is absolutely has a lot of expenditures that um and it in some ways it's no surprise because a lot of this infrastructure is 50, 60 years old, and that was sort of the design life of a lot of this infrastructure.

So I think a big thing that we're seeing, I mean we all see it, the Texas legislature in the last legislative session, they kind of called it the water session, and the next one's probably going to be it too.

So I think a big part of what is important for us is to really try to make sure that our legislative delegation is is well educated so they can help uh provide some relief to our ratepayers and and our community because there is a lot of expenditures um that kind of seem to go on and on.

But I think it's necessary and it's important.

So to answer your question, Councilman, I do believe that as you know the next couple years unfold, uh we will be coming back and sharing with you some additional um needs that we have that'll have costs associated with them.

Okay, and at the very beginning of your presentation, you were talking about Lake Livingston, and you mentioned ownership, and I didn't quite catch what you were saying.

I and I apologize for that.

So it's it's actually um we we are uh we actually work with Trinity River Authority.

So the Trinity River Authority actually uh owns and operates uh Lake Livingston for us.

We actually own 70 percent of the water rights on on Lake Livingston.

So it's it's very much a partnership arrangement with Trinity River Authority.

And of course, Trinity River Authority is you know another very important asset that we have that that has had some it's it's gonna have some uh some needs in terms of expenditures that we'll have to be coming back to you and and explaining to you what we need and why we need those expenditures.

Okay.

Um, you know, and you and I spoke when when we had the preparation meeting and uh noted that although some areas of the state really have water issues, water supply issues, we're in a really good position, you know, because we have access to uh the water in Lake Livingston that comes to us down the Tribity Trinity River and then through the two pump stations that that you have shown in the diagram.

Um then also we pull in water uh that comes from Lake Conroe and Lake Houston as well, is that right?

Yes, sir.

That that is correct.

So uh I I will tell you that Lake Conroe is is not really uh a lake that we t tend to use uh very often.

Um I think the last time we used Lake Conroe was during the the drought uh in 2011-2012 when we made uh a request for water to flow down through their gates for water uh for for to use that water.

Um but really the the predominant water source that is is imperative for us is is Lake Houston um and and Lake Livingston.

All right.

Um Councilmember Alcorn, go ahead.

I I know we approved all the spending, but did we have we are you in the process of selecting the are there are RFPs out for the CMAR and all that?

So it as far as as far as that goes, I'm probably gonna ask Greg to step up.

I I know a lot of the work has has already been done.

I think most of these projects are pretty shovel ready.

Um but Greg, maybe you can kind of touch on the contract.

Sure, yes, thank you.

Councilmember.

Um for the uh facility building improvements, the 36 million, all of the planning work has been done.

We are gonna complete the design elements of those in the next six months.

Okay and then uh from that we will generate uh well, as Drew mentioned that this will be a C mark construction manager at risk.

Uh at about the 60 percent design phase, we will bring that out.

That's when you go out for a bid on that.

Okay.

That's correct.

60 percent on that one.

Um the um SCADA system, um, the six million, that is uh we're we have all the planning complete.

We're working on the design, and that will come out um as a um RFP.

And then we're we're six months to nine months out on that one.

Okay.

And the uh Trinity River Pump Station Access Road, that design is complete.

It's shovel ready, and uh we have uh already secured a contractor for that for that work, and uh they are proceeding uh currently.

Who is it?

Um the the company is called RT Ellis.

Um they're a uh Liberty County uh contractor that we've used before.

Okay.

And Drew, um, since you came from Corpus, you want to tell us a little bit about what's going on down there?

I'm worried.

I'm worried about Corpus.

And and a big reason uh that I was sort of enticed to go down there was uh um they I was really tasked with uh leading the effort to to get a desalination plant online.

And uh you know, Corpus has done a really great job in securing surface water.

They're 100 percent dependent on surface water, but unlike in Houston, their groundwater is is really not a great source of water.

It's in the same aquifer as ours.

It's part of the Gulf Coast aquifer.

But unfortunately, as you get down south of Victoria, the water quality really deteriorates.

And when I say it deteriorates, what I mean by that is there's arsenic, uh, there's some heavy metals, uh, there's salt, which is oftentimes categorized as total dissolved solids.

And so the water, the groundwater is just not a very good option.

You typically have to treat it.

So desalination really is is the key for them.

And it was unfortunate because we we we got a project pretty close.

Uh we actually had selected a design build uh contractor.

Um we actually had advanced the project to about 10 percent.

And you know, uh there was there was some reluctance from the council because of the cost.

The costs had gone up.

Um the costs had gone from about 757 million dollars for a 30 million gallon a day desail plant to about 1.2 billion.

And uh though those things happen.

We we see that across the board.

We all know that escalation across everywhere is is a difficult one.

So the city is now really trying to look at what what's their next step.

And there's they're still looking at desalination.

In fact, the project that we had fully permitted, it's a fully permitted desalination project.

It's funded through the state.

They actually got um 757 million dollars of low interest financing through Texas Water Development Board.

Um it's ready.

Uh in fact, uh the governor was even on a couple weeks ago talking about the fact that he really wants to see this get done.

So we're all keeping our fingers crossed.

I think everybody's rooting for them to get this thing done.

Um they they are looking at potentially running out of water.

Uh when I say running out of water, I mean they're they're they won't be able to meet their demand.

The supply will not meet the demand uh by June of this year.

Um and so what does that mean?

It means mandatory curtailment.

It means uh folks are gonna really be struggling uh to try to manage that.

I don't know any city that's had to do that.

How long does it take to build a D Sal plant?

So the D Sale plan is about 30, 32 months to build.

So had had we had that project not get canceled on us, yeah, uh, we would have had a surface uh a D cell plant in June of 2028.

That was the target.

Wow, well, I wouldn't want to be the council member that it's there when the when the water runs out.

Thank you for that.

And Drew, you and I talked about this as well during the pre-meeting.

Uh it wasn't just one council that voted against D Cell plant down there.

How many how many were there?

Well, you you know, here's the thing.

I I I think many of you especially appreciate this, right?

These big projects, uh it takes multiple councils and multiple people on a team to pass the baton.

And what was sort of tragic about the city of council uh city corpus christie situation is is that that was multiple councils that had planned, they had put that in their this this this desalination project had been in their region uh end, they're in region end.

They've been in their region end plan since 2014.

Uh the last three mayors and councils all supported this project.

And it's just unfortunate that uh the current council uh just didn't quite see it uh across the finish line.

And again, I like to be optimistic.

I I think you know, part of this is it's an education process.

We we really need to make sure that our job is to give you uh the the best information so you hopefully make good decisions on behalf of the community.

And uh I I I think that there's still some hope there.

I think that they still they're gonna build a DSell plant.

There's no doubt in my mind.

Uh it's just, you know, is there gonna be some pain uh in order to get there?

And I hope they are not gonna have to curtail.

That would be a bad day.

And I think you mentioned this council that that voted it down was a relatively new council, right?

It wasn't the same council that had uh guided the project all along.

That is correct.

So, you know, down in Corpus Christi, it's uh it's a nine member council, so one mayor and and eight council members.

And one of the things that's interesting down there is is they they have two-year terms.

Um and so it was it was a it was a big turnover on the last uh city council, and so there was a lot of education that that we were uh that we really needed to do.

And and we we we tried.

We really we work hard with our council members.

We want to make sure, like I said, you you're armed with the with the facts and the best information.

And so it was unfortunate that uh we just couldn't quite get them there to believe that this was uh it's a good project.

I think there's some lessons to be learned there.

Uh last thing I want to ask you is a little bit off topic, but obviously we've been talking about uh surface water.

Uh Houston does use some groundwater.

Can you give us an idea what that what that breakdown is and and how that has changed in recent years here in Houston?

Absolutely.

Um, you know, one of the things I think is important is Houston's got a great story, and we should be proud of it.

Uh we relied solely on groundwater for many years until we be built the 1954 Eastwater Plant.

And uh over time, we have gradually reduced that dependence on groundwater because of things like subsidence.

Uh today, I think we've been very successful.

Uh there's three there's three zones uh that are all regulated, uh zone three being closest to the Gulf.

Uh we we really don't use any groundwater in that zone.

And then region two or zone two, uh we we we basically use, and uh trying to remember this, but it's it's about sixty to seventy percent uh surface water.

And then in zone three, that's the one we're really working hard to try to convert, and that was a big genesis for the reasons of the Northeast Plant Expansion and then the regional water authorities that are have been created to help provide that water surface water supply.

So, you know, we we have our own set of challenges in terms of you know making sure we meet those requirements.

But I think Houston's got a very unique story and one that we should be proud of uh in that we have a diverse water supply.

Um when you look at our reservoir levels, uh Corpus Christi, they're they're less than nine percent right now full.

You look at ours, and and we are in drought.

You know, I I will point out we are in drought, but when you look at our reservoir levels, uh we're very fortunate to have them all full or very close to full.

Um and so we've got different challenges in Houston and and we're aware of what those are and we're working hard to address those.

But I I do think that you know you have to stop and pause a little bit and just thank uh our predecessors, the folks that were in your chairs before that have made great decisions to put us in a place where we're not struggling with water supply scarcities like other communities.

Great.

Well, good news there, right?

So we're we're we're grateful to hear that.

Uh that's that's all the questions that we have.

I don't see anybody else in the queue.

Drew, so thank you for that presentation.

And uh thank you for your work.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much.

You bet.

We do we let's see, I don't believe we have any members of the public uh signed up to speak.

And if there's anyone here, I don't know that there is who would like to speak.

We'll certainly hear from you.

No.

Okay.

All right.

Well, uh short and sweet, we'll go ahead and bring the meeting to a close, and we anticipate having another service delivery uh committee meeting next month about this time.

So thank you all.