Thursday February 19, 2004
LCRA, Brazos River Authority Plan Wastewater Treatment Pant

Source: Lower Colorado River Authority

The system, with an initial capacity to treat 400,000 gallons a day, will replace aging septic tanks and proposed package waste treatment plants and will treat effluent to a higher standard than the other alternatives.

The project has received strong support from community and business leaders in the Liberty Hill area and Georgetown. It also has been endorsed by county environmental officials as a sensible alternative to septic tanks, which could potentially contaminate surface water or groundwater.

LCRA and Brazos, through the Brazos-Colorado Water Alliance, agreed to study the need for a Liberty Hill wastewater treatment plant at the request of a large segment of the Liberty Hill community. The study, completed in August 2002, recommended a regional system to meet Liberty Hill's needs and solve existing problems with aging septic tanks. Alternatives to a regional system include the proliferation of septic systems or small package plants.

LCRA and Brazos, which formed the alliance in 1995 to find regional solutions to providing water and wastewater service to a burgeoning Williamson County population, each contributed $10,000 for the feasibility study. More than 20 local organizations and businesses contributed another $61,800.

"This is a case of two river authorities doing the responsible thing - solving a community's problems with a regional solution that makes economic and environmental sense," said Randy Goss, LCRA's executive manager of Water and Wastewater Utility Services.

This new highly efficient regional facility will treat wastes to standards much higher than package plants or septic tanks, said John Baker, Central Region manager of the Brazos River Authority. "The Brazos-LCRA alliance strongly supports the community's desire to protect the quality of the South San Gabriel River and Edwards Aquifer. That's exactly why we are doing this project."

LCRA will build and own the system and Brazos will operate it through the ongoing alliance. The $7.2 million project will proceed in two phases. The first phase will serve the City of Liberty Hill, its extraterritorial jurisdiction and an area between Highway 29 and the north and south forks of the San Gabriel River. The second phase will serve would provide wastewater service to the Liberty Hill Independent School district and future developments.

According to projections for the Liberty Hill project area, the current population of about 1,200 is expected to increase by almost 20 times over the next decade.

The alliance plans an open house in this spring to allow Liberty Hill residents and others interested in the project to learn more about it and address questions to LCRA and Brazos staff. Brazos and LCRA had an initial meeting with adjacent and downstream landowners in January.

"The alliance will carry out the project through an open public process," Goss said. "We're committed to discussing the project with the public and hearing their concerns. We'll continue to work with the public, local governmental entities, the state and others as we proceed."

The plant is being designed to address the special nature of the project area with its important recreational and other features, said Jim Clarno, LCRA's project supervisor.

"The plant will discharge into the South San Gabriel River downstream of the low-head dam below the area used for recreation," Clarno said. "We are also committed in the long term to use direct reuse of effluent as much as possible if it makes sense economically and environmentally."

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