Hickory Expansion to Cost $65.7 Million

City Council will consider borrowing $56 million to finish expansion of the Hickory Aquifer project.   Texas Water Board approved nearly $66 million in financial assistance for the project.  City documents described the expansion:

The proposed project is the second phase of expanding the City's groundwater supply from the Hickory Aquifer. The project will involve improvements at multiple locations spanning over 60 miles. The City’s wellfield, raw water collection system, transmission line, and Groundwater Treatment Plant will be upgraded to ensure the needed production rate of the Phase II design can reliably be achieved. To accomplish this, five new wells are proposed at the wellfield, bringing the total production capacity to 10,000 gallons per minute. New interconnecting piping will tie the new wells into the existing collection system infrastructure, with several improvements recommended to improve the reliability of the collection system. Additional optimization efforts will also be evaluated to improve the service life of the equipment and minimize influent groundwater iron concentration.

Council will take up this plan without review by the Water Advisory Board, which last met in September 2018.