North Harris County's Water Authority Board Meets Tonight: Surface Water, Three Project Closeouts and a $27.5 Million Pipeline Contract in the Rear View
The board that decides how northern Harris County shifts from well water to surface water meets at 6 p.m. Monday on Cypress Creek Parkway. On the agenda: a supply update, new agreements for Villa Robles, a metering-technology status report, closeouts for three construction projects - and the financial machinery behind a conversion program whose August rate hit a reported record 55 percent.
HOUSTON - The North Harris County Regional Water Authority's Board of Directors holds its regular public meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, at the Authority's office at 3648 Cypress Creek Parkway, Suite 110, with a Zoom option for residents who want to watch from home. The Authority - created by the Texas Legislature in 1999 to fight the land subsidence that comes with pumping groundwater in northern Harris County - supplies treated surface water to the municipal utility districts and providers that actually bill most households.
General Manager Jun Chang is scheduled to update the board on surface water supply and groundwater conversion, and directors will consider authorizing a Water Supply Agreement and a Water Line Construction Agreement with East Lake Houston MUD for Villa Robles. The agenda names the agreements without publishing their financial terms or construction schedules. The board also receives a status update on advanced metering infrastructure - electronic meter reading - with no neighborhood installation timeline specified, and takes up the proposed closeout of three construction projects, 31D, 35A and 35B, alongside a review of the Louetta Road pump station's condition, the monthly financial report and payment of bills.
The meeting follows a consequential September. That board approved the nearly $27.5 million Project 37A contract - $27,495,689.25 to Reytec Construction Resources, the lowest of seven bids - for transmission pipelines from 12 to 42 inches along Spring Cypress Road, Louetta Road, Grant Road and North Eldridge Parkway, part of a Project 37 expansion expected to reach more than 40 miles of pipe and about 22 water providers. September's minutes also reported a preliminary August groundwater conversion rate of 55 percent, described as a record - against published milestones of 60 percent groundwater reduction by 2025 and 80 percent by 2035.
The Authority has no taxing power; it funds itself through revenue bonds, groundwater pumpage fees and surface water sales, at listed wholesale rates of $2.60 per 1,000 gallons for groundwater and $3.05 for surface water - which is how a board vote in a Cypress Creek Parkway office suite can eventually surface in a MUD bill. Monday's meeting also recognizes Director Ron Graham for 25 years of service, and the board next gathers for a budget workshop and directors' election canvass on Nov. 16.
