1 00:00:00,116 --> 00:00:05,388 Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, or BCRUA, is a regional partnership 2 00:00:05,388 --> 00:00:09,859 between three cities: Cedar Park, Leander, and Round Rock. 3 00:00:10,193 --> 00:00:13,697 These three cities have been growing immensely. 4 00:00:13,947 --> 00:00:17,350 They've been some of the fastest-growing cities in Texas. 5 00:00:17,634 --> 00:00:21,271 So right now, the water comes to the water treatment 6 00:00:21,271 --> 00:00:24,024 plant through a floating barge on Lake Travis. 7 00:00:24,324 --> 00:00:28,795 These barges, while effective, are much more vulnerable to drought and floods. 8 00:00:28,812 --> 00:00:32,882 So, this project will replace the floating barges. 9 00:00:32,899 --> 00:00:36,720 We are moving towards having a permanent deep-water intake 10 00:00:37,070 --> 00:00:42,709 that can take water from the deepest locations of Lake Travis. 11 00:00:43,076 --> 00:00:45,678 This new project will be much more reliable 12 00:00:46,079 --> 00:00:49,399 in terms of withstanding the effects of drought on lake levels 13 00:00:49,766 --> 00:00:54,170 and be able to deliver increased capacity for the growing regional needs. 14 00:00:54,437 --> 00:00:58,892 The deep-water intake is being sized for 145 million 15 00:00:58,892 --> 00:01:02,662 gallons per day of water to be delivered from Lake Travis. 16 00:01:02,812 --> 00:01:06,149 The massive pump station will have six pumps 17 00:01:06,449 --> 00:01:10,820 that will be about 300 feet deep to reach down to the tunnel level. 18 00:01:11,121 --> 00:01:15,141 But then, they will pump to three different water treatment plants. 19 00:01:15,625 --> 00:01:18,678 What you're seeing is a pump station site. 20 00:01:18,678 --> 00:01:21,498 And what we're drilling now is the tunnel shaft. 21 00:01:21,631 --> 00:01:25,502 The shaft will be 300 feet deep and 30-foot diameter. 22 00:01:26,102 --> 00:01:30,957 Everything that is needed to construct the tunnel is going to go down this hole: 23 00:01:30,990 --> 00:01:34,878 materials, tunnel boring machine, people. 24 00:01:35,328 --> 00:01:38,998 But when it's completed, then this will become 25 00:01:38,998 --> 00:01:42,152 a part of the pump station where the pumps reside. 26 00:01:42,752 --> 00:01:48,007 In addition to adding the deep-water intake for resiliency for BCRUA, 27 00:01:48,091 --> 00:01:50,994 we're also expanding our water treatment plant capacity. 28 00:01:51,361 --> 00:01:54,781 Right now, we're just over 32 million gallons per day. 29 00:01:54,798 --> 00:01:57,834 But ultimately, this plant is phased to be able 30 00:01:57,834 --> 00:02:01,588 to increase up to 106 million gallons per day. 31 00:02:01,821 --> 00:02:05,091 This water treatment plant was funded by the water development board. 32 00:02:05,458 --> 00:02:08,211 We also obtained a loan for the deep-water intake. 33 00:02:08,278 --> 00:02:11,331 The deep-water intake itself its total 34 00:02:11,331 --> 00:02:14,601 costs will be about $290 million. 35 00:02:15,118 --> 00:02:17,720 We awarded the construction contract 36 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,492 for the deep-water intake in June of 2022, and it's going to be a five-year 37 00:02:22,492 --> 00:02:26,663 project, mostly due to the length of time it's going to take to dig the tunnel. 38 00:02:27,063 --> 00:02:31,518 I'm very proud of the work that's gone into this and my colleagues’ efforts. 39 00:02:31,768 --> 00:02:35,038 This is one of the projects that I came to BCRUA for. 40 00:02:35,421 --> 00:02:38,274 It's amazingly innovative, it’s 41 00:02:38,274 --> 00:02:41,561 going to have so much benefit, and there's so much support for it.