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$250 million project breaks ground in Texas
Pflugerville and state leaders broke ground on the Wilbarger Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, a $250 million investment financed with help from the EPA and Texas Water Board.
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas - Construction on Pflugerville’s Wilbarger Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility is now underway.
A groundbreaking was held for the facility on Thursday, the City’s largest capital improvement investment in its history.
"This opportunity and this facility will afford this community the opportunity to make critical decisions about its water future for the coming decades. That is not insignificant," said Thomas Hunter, assistant city manager for the City of Pflugerville. "And you are laying the groundwork for future decision-makers to provide a resilient and a strong and vital economy, a community for Pflugerville."
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The $247 million investment was financed with the help of low-interest loans from the EPA and Texas Water Development Board. At completion, the facility will have a capacity of 6 million gallons of water a day.
"This cutting edge facility, coupled with new wastewater interceptors, will streamline the transfer of wastewater flow from existing lift stations to the new facility, effectively supporting our city's continued expansion while mitigating environmental impacts and operational demands," said Mayor Pro Tem Doug Weiss.
When the future facility's land was initially acquired in 2009, Pflugerville's population was under 47,000.
It's now estimated at over 65,000.
"We have this tremendous growth along with Samsung coming into Taylor, Tesla in Austin. And right smack dab in the middle of them is the City of Pflugerville," Brandon Pritchett, utilities director for the City of Pflugerville. "And so we know that we're experiencing that same growth. And we know that those large centers of employment, those people need somewhere to live, and they need somewhere where they can take a shower, and they can flush the toilet, and it goes somewhere."
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One of the first steps in the construction process will be drilling concrete piers into the dense, expansive clay soil.
"So there's a lot of construction going forward that will look like nothing from the road, but there's a lot of underground stuff that we have to do first before we start going vertical," said Pritchett.
The facility is expected to be operational by 2026 and fully completed by 2027.