History
As lot owners have built their houses and joined our community the demand for water continues to increase. Well #5 was completed in 2023. The Well #4 project was actually started a few years ago and is substantially more complicated than Well #5. Hence them getting completed out of order!
Well #4 will be located on the NW corner of Wagon Wheel and Murphy Drives. This Well has taken quite a bit longer than Well #5 due to its size and complexity as well as the challenges of working with the public loan we obtained for its funding. The site has been cleared and electricity has been run to it. The well has been drilled and has been pump tested. Our current design received only one bid that was significantly above our budget. We are actively working with the TWDB to modify the approach to this well. If we can reach agreement, then we will proceed with the TWDB loan. If we cannot, we will need to proceed without it.
The addition of Well #4 will significantly change the way our water system works. This will increase the flexibility and reliability of the system as a whole. Currently Whitewater Springs has two different zones (called Planes in water terminology) that serve two very different parts of the community. The plane that serves the lower parts of WWS is pressurized by the water from the large water tank flowing downhill. This provides more than enough pressure for the lower plane. The plane that serves the upper parts of WWS has to be pressurized as it isn’t going downhill. This is accomplished by use of pumps and a pressure tank which you see next to the building at the water tank.
It is not feasible to put in a pipeline from Well #4 up to the water tank. It would also require a lot of electricity to pump the water up the hill. For this reason we will be changing the lower plane to be receiving water exclusively from Well #4 being pressurized and chlorinated at the Well #4 site. The downhill connection will still be there however to serve as a backup to the Well #4 site. If power is lost or there is heightened demand for water in the lower plane a valve will automatically open up to allow water to flow downhill from the large storage tank.
Plans
Our current bid package has a plan that is being evaluated by the TWDB. We hope to get approval in 2024 so that we can get started on the project in 2025.
Here is a document that shows the detailed plans. You will see the main features of this site will be:
- 30,000 gallon storage tank
- Equipment and storage building
- 2,500 gallon pressure tank
- Chlorination equipment
- Perimeter fencing
We have a small amount of flexibility with how these facilities are built. As you can imagine safety of both the water supply quality as well as the facility as a whole is crucial.
Our project manager David Giles is working with Mike Callahan who volunteered to represent the neighbors nearby this project regarding the aesthetics. If you are interested in helping them please contact David Giles.
Below are questions that have been asked about this facility and answers. We would like to add to this so that repetitive questions do not need to be asked, and the community can review at their leisure.
If you have a question not covered below, please send it to well4question@wswsc.org. We will respond within 48 hours and will post out response here too for others to see.
If you have something complicated to ask or that won’t work well in email you can contact Gregg Thompson (mailto:gregg.thompson@wswsc.org) directly.
When Whitewater Springs was first developed LCRA managed the public water system. The original developers worked with LCRA to designate certain lots and common areas in Whitewater Springs as well sites. Many of these sites had test wells drilled to assess the viability of a well at that site. You can see these sites on the WWS map here as well as the lots are listed in the CCRs.
The WSWSC was able to acquire lot 605 (the Well #4 site) as well as a number of other well sites in a 2020 deal with Montvale. This well was an excellent producer in pump tests, so it was one of the priority locations for the next WSWSC well.
The project has really already started. The well has been drilled and pump tested. The infrastructure to add it to the water system will be a significant project we expect to start in 2025 if we can find the right bid.
Chlorine can be dangerous if not handled properly. This facility will be built according to safe handling standards for Chlorine. It is extremely common for water facilities to treat their water with Chlorine.
We’ve had a Chlorination facility in WWS for many years at the plant up by the water tank. Typically there will only be an active tank and a backup tank on the facility. There is a monitoring device to help determine if there is a leak that will warn the operator through the SCADA system.
There is a process that the WSWSC needs to follow with the District in order to add new wells to our system. Spacing requirements for new wells can make this challenging.
New wells are required to be a certain distance from many things. Streets, other wells, septic systems, public lands, etc. If those distances are not met the entity drilling the well must get a variance approved by the property owners impacted. The WSWSC was able to get approval from all but one property owner on the variances created by Well #4. This triggered a process by which signs needed to be posted and postal mail sent to anyone within 1/2 mile of the well. The district then holds a hearing on the spacing variance request. Anyone objecting to the request can formally object and/or attend the hearing and make their concerns heard. If the board has enough concern about the objections, they can deny the variance for the well and the well would be shut down. This would mean the WSWSC would have to start again on another well location and would lose the amount invested in drilling the well.
At this point the final spacing variance meeting for Well #4 will be on September 17 at 9 am at the Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District offices in Burnet.
Generally the District is not interested in the aesthetics of the well facilities. They are concerned about function, how much water will be pumped and the impact of the well placement on the infrastructure of neighboring property.
The WSWSC is actively working with residents whose property faces the Well#4 property.
Part of the site plan includes a trench to be dug around he perimeter of the security fence for plantings. When mature this should help to soften the look of the fence and screen much of what is installed.
The original plan called for a 16′ tall tank. We are working wth the TWDB and engineers to see if we could get the same functionality out of an 8′ tall tank with a wider diameter.
The fence must be built in accordance with security standards for this type of facility. That said many municipalities have attached cedar planks to the exterior of the fence or built it taller out of different materials to improve its look. This may be something we could do depending on budgets.
You can see the fencing requirements on the last page of the detailed plans link above.
That is definitely the plan. Due to issues with TWDB approving release of funds for the first stages of this project we have been at a standstill. Once this is resolved one way or another, we can move forward on re-bidding the project. If we can’t work things out with the TWDB within a year we plan to move forward without them.