Service Delivery Committee Presentation on Trinity River Water Conveyance CIP - March 25, 2026
Service Delivery Committee Presentation on Trinity River Water Conveyance Capital Improvements Project - March 25, 2026
The Service Delivery Committee of the Houston City Council met on March 25, 2026, chaired by Vice Chair Julian Ramirez (filling in for Chair Tarsha Jackson). The sole agenda item was a presentation from the Chief Water Officer, Drew Molly, on the Trinity River Water Conveyance System Capital Improvements Project (CIP). The presentation covered three projects totaling $46.417 million, previously approved by City Council. Discussion included project details, funding sources, and broader regional water supply challenges.
Discussion Items
- Drew Molly gave a presentation on the CIP, including background on the Coastal Water Authority (CWA), which is governed by a seven-member board (four appointed by the mayor, three by the governor) and delivers surface water from the Trinity River to three municipal drinking water facilities and industrial partners. The system delivers 1 to 1.5 billion gallons of water daily.
- Three projects were detailed: (1) Facility building improvements at the Trinity River Pump Station, Canal Maintenance Station, and Lynchburg Pump Station ($36.417 million; completion 2027); (2) SCADA modernization ($6 million; completion 2027); (3) Access road improvements at the Trinity River Pump Station ($4 million; completion 2026). The facility improvements address end-of-life conditions identified in a 2024 assessment and will use a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) delivery method.
- Councilmember Sally Alcorn asked about a separate $100 million state grant for the Lynchburg Pump Station. Greg Olinger (General Manager, CWA) clarified that the $100 million is a direct legislative appropriation administered by the Texas Water Development Board to replace pumps, motors, and electrical equipment, separate from the $46 million local CIP.
- Council Member Julian Ramirez asked about future spending needs. Molly stated that many water infrastructure assets are 50-60 years old and that additional expenditures will be needed, emphasizing the importance of educating the state legislative delegation to support ratepayers.
- On water supply: Houston owns 70% of the water rights in Lake Livingston (operated by the Trinity River Authority) and relies primarily on Lake Houston and Lake Livingston; Lake Conroe is rarely used (last used during the 2011-2012 drought). Reservoirs are currently full despite drought conditions.
- Molly discussed groundwater: Houston has reduced groundwater dependence due to subsidence. In Zone 2 (closer to the Gulf), surface water accounts for about 60-70% of supply; work continues in Zone 3 to convert to surface water.
- Molly also discussed the desalination project in Corpus Christi, where he previously worked. The project was canceled due to cost escalation from $757 million to $1.2 billion. Corpus Christi is now at risk of mandatory water curtailment by June 2026, as reservoirs are below 9% capacity. Molly noted that multiple councils had supported the project, but a new council voted it down, highlighting the importance of education and continuity.
Key Outcomes
- No votes or formal actions were taken at this meeting; the presentation was informational only.
- Councilmembers expressed appreciation for the update and acknowledged the city's strong water supply position compared to other Texas cities.
- Drew Molly confirmed that the committee will continue to receive updates on infrastructure needs in future meetings.
- The next Service Delivery Committee meeting is anticipated in approximately one month.
Meeting Transcript
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.
openpublica.com