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City, grant funds to improve capacity and reliability
City Council approved a construction agreement last month for improvements to Elgin’s water treatment plant, a roughly $5.3 million project aimed at expanding capacity and improving reliability.
The project will be funded through city water impact fees and about $1.9 million from the Texas General Land Office’s Hurricane Harvey mitigation assistance program, according to officials. Under GLO requirements, Elgin must spend local funds first before drawing on the grant.
About $4 million in water impact fee revenue is available for the city’s share.
“If you’ve been out there, you’ll see that we’re in need of an expansion or an improvement of that facility,” Public Works Director Michael Gonzalez said. “This improvement that we’re talking about is not only for capacity … it’s also about reliability.”
Planned improvements include expanding the plant’s charcoal filters, upgrading valve systems and replacing filter media previously identified as a future need. About half the plant currently operates with manual valves, with the other half using pneumatic valves.
Officials said the upgrades will strengthen the city’s drinking water infrastructure and make the plant more resilient during disasters.
“We’re using this opportunity with the grant funds to get some of those items that we were going to put on there,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t want to burden any other rate payers with that item.”
Development Services Director Beau Perry said the city had previously committed approximately $5.3 million toward the project based on earlier construction totals. However, because bids came in lower than expected, the city can seek GLO approval to use additional grant funds for further improvements rather than committing local funds upfront.
Grant Works senior project manager Allison Land said GLO funding is considered a last resort, with local funds required to be spent first.
The city’s approach allows officials to meet the grant requirements without overcommitting local funds before receiving GLO approval for additional work, according to Perry.
