Eyeing future, Riverbend explores water plant options
Riverbend Water Resources District held two meetings last week to present its Regional Water Master Plan, which includes a raw water line to TexAmericas Center and two new water treatment plants.
“We cannot express enough that this is just a piece of us moving forward,” Liz Fazio Hale, Riverbend’s executive director and CEO, said during Wednesday’s meeting in Texarkana. “No final decisions have been made on building a new water treatment facility, either in Bowie or Cass county, or building a new intake. We are just exploring the option, seeking feedback from … our member cities and member entities and the public at large.”
Riverbend’s 16 members must individually approve the plan, which would be paid for with bonds through the Texas Water Development Board and rate increases at the local level.
Hale said the plan outlines what’s needed for future growth and that while ambitious, it is a step similar to what area leaders did almost 70 years ago.
“I stand here today in the footprint of giants, who in the 1950s decided to build Wright Patman reservoir, at the time known as Texarkana Lake,” she said. “And I could not be happier to work with the board we have, to work with those member cities and entities to move forward and look at what this region looks like for our children and grandchildren the same way that some did before us, that many did before us.”
She went on to say that the New Boston Road water treatment plant was built with the future in mind.
“When those folks were building the New Boston Road facility, they built it to 18.5 mgd (million gallons per day), but in the 1950s, that was not the need,” she said. “The need was 3 mgd. It was something much less than that, and they built it to six times the amount.”
The study, conducted by Susan Roth Consulting, analyzed the New Boston Road plant, the water treatment plant at Millwood Lake and the one at Digital Packaging, formerly Industrial Paper.
The study shows the plant was constructed in 1957 and facilities have had minimal upgrades since. It operates at 18 mgd. The structural facilities have been well-maintained but have reached the limits of their useful life. Additional state and federal regulatory treatment requirements might not allow the plant to remain in operation for an extended period. It sits in a floodplain, and the land available for expansion is limited.
The Millwood Water Treatment Plant is jointly owned by the cities of Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Ark., and is operated by Texarkana Water Utilities. Southwest Arkansas Water District owns and operates the raw water conveyance system. Texarkana, Ark., owns the contracted water rights in Millwood Lake.
The study shows it needs an extensive structural analysis and that the plant’s basins do not have construction or expansion joints, which lends them to cracking and leaking. Eventually, this plant would serve all of Texarkana, Ark.
The water treatment plant at Digital Packaging was built in 1972 and expanded in 1978 and 2000. It is owned by Texarkana, Texas, and operated by the mill. It serves the mill and the cities of Atlanta, Domino and sometimes Queen City. TWU owns and operates the raw water conveyance facilities. While the plant’s intake on Wright Patman Lake appears to be in good condition, the report shows the plant does not have much remaining life and repairs would be a temporary solution.
If approved, the plans would be implemented in several phases.
Phase 1A includes a new water intake on Wright Patman Lake, a raw water pump station, a raw water line to the new surface water treatment plant and distribution upgrades for pipelines, storage and pumping.
Phase 1B includes a new water treatment plant and distribution upgrades. Costs for these—which includes using existing distribution lines where possible such as along U.S. Highway 82— and planned upgrades are estimated at $124.3 million, plus an additional $65.1 million with new distribution lines. The total cost, including engineer design, feasibility studies, legal, finance, bond issuance, power and land issuance is about $251.2 million. Operational and maintenance costs after completion are estimated at $6 million yearly with an annual debt service of $10.9 million.
Phase 4B is for a new water plant in Cass County to serve Digital Packaging, Atlanta, Domino and Queen City.
Total construction cost is estimated at $12.5 million, with an additional cost of $13.3 million with a new distribution line. The total cost including engineer design, feasibility studies, legal, finance, bond issuance, power and land acquisition is about $34.2 million. Operational costs are estimated at $1.1 million annually, and annual debt service would be $1.5 million.
The RWMP and cost-estimate analysis are available at rwrd.org.
Riverbend will hold a work session at 10 a.m. on Aug. 22 at Riverbend offices, 228A Texas Ave., New Boston, Texas. The next regular meeting will be held at noon on Aug. 29.