West Houston News

Three massive Houston water projects are raising water bills and affecting the roadways for residents living near Beltway 8. 

The Northeast Transmission Line, the Luce Bayou Interbasin Transfer project and the expansion of the Northeast Water Purification Plant are expected to cost several billion dollars by the time they are completed in the next five years. Officials say the projects are a necessity because the area is running out of water.

“We’re doing it to meet the subsidence district mandates, but we’re doing it also because if we do not do it, we will not have water in the future,” Al Rendl, president of the North Harris County Regional Water Authority, told Community Impact Newspaper. Subsidence is the lowering of land elevation from the overuse of groundwater pumped from aquifers. Houston is under a federal mandate to source surface water instead of relying so heavily on groundwater. 

The Luce Bayou project is part of a regional groundwater conservation effort. The Northeast Water Purification Plant expansion and improvements to the Northeast Transmission Line transverse directly through the lower Lake Houston are. 

Water authorities and municipalities are providing funding for the projects, which will increase their surface water usage. Water rates for residents have been increased in order to help pay for the projects. Some residents in the Lake Houston area have seen their water rates increase by 50% to 100%.

Houston sells surface water to utility providers. The utility providers then sell the water across the Lake Houston area. The City of Humble and the North Harris County and West Harris County regional water authorities, which cover parts of Atascocita, are buyers.

The purification plant expansion, which began in 2017  is expected to cost $1.77 billion dollars. The completion date for the expansion is 2025. Project Director Ravi Kaleyatodi said the project will increase the gallons of water that the plant can pump from 80 million to 400 million per day.

The Northeast Transmission Line project is targeted for completion in Fall 2022, Jeff Masek, assistant director of capital projects for Houston Public Works, told Community Impact. The project will include 16.5 miles of pipes to transport water from the plant to Beltway 8 and Interstate 45, at a cost of $450 million.