The Buda City Council unanimously approved the issuance of $4.37 million in revenue bonds as part of the city’s participation in a regional water supply contract with the Alliance Regional Water Authority (ARWA) at its regular meeting Oct. 15.
The project will supply, beginning in 2023, water the city “sorely needs in the future as we continue to grow,” Mayor George Haehn said prior to the vote.
Graham Moore, ARWA executive director, told council members prior to the vote that the project, which will deliver water from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer to Buda as well as the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, the cities of Lockhart and New Braunfels and other entities, is currently in the process of engineering design and easement acquisition, adding that of 325 required easements, only one has been agreed on.
“Obviously, there is a lot ahead of us,” he said.
Construction on the project, which includes a new water treatment plant, treated water pipes, pumps and delivery points, is expected to begin in early 2021.
The project will also utilize SWIFT funding from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), Moore said. SWIFT funding, which borrowed from the state’s “rainy day” fund, was approved by voters in 2013.
Read more from Anita Miller with Hays Free Press News-Dispatch here.