The Sealy City Council was given an update on the Allen’s Creek Reservoir Project during the July 19th City Council Meeting by Kathy Dominquez.  We had reported on the project being placed on hold in a presentation given Dominquez to Austin County Commissioners Court back in a 2014 article/video which you can read/watch HERE.  But, for those unfamiliar with the Allen’s Creek Reservoir Project, here is a brief synopsis of it from The Brazos River Authority’s Website:

Allens Creek Reservoir is a proposed water supply storage reservoir planned for construction near the City of Wallis in Austin County. The reservoir is planned to be “off-channel,” meaning it will be built near the Brazos River on Allens Creek, a tributary of the Brazos.

A permit to build the reservoir was originally issued to Houston Lighting & Power Company (HL&P – a predecessor of NRG) in 1974 to provide cooling water for a proposed nuclear power plant. The power plant was not built, and eventually, HL&P allowed the water rights permit for the reservoir to expire. Later, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1593, allowing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to grant a water right for Allens Creek Reservoir to the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB).

The Brazos River Authority and the City of Houston purchased the 9,500-acre Allens Creek Reservoir site from Reliant Energy in 2000. The resulting joint project between the City of Houston, the BRA and the TWDB planned to allow the sharing of costs to build the reservoir and the water supply yield on a 70 percent (Houston) and 30 percent (BRA) basis. The purchase was made possible through financing provided by the TWDBs State Participation Program. Under this agreement, the BRA would build and operate the reservoir.

For the past several years, the reservoir project has been on hold. However, due to the increasing need for water supply in the Brazos River basin, the Brazos River Authority purchased full rights to the reservoir from the City of Houston and the Texas Water Development Board.   The sale is expected to be completed in early May 2022. The BRA will be the sole developer/owner of the reservoir moving forward.

Well, the project is no longer on hold and is moving forward which the video below covers its status to this point.  You can watch the entire presentation below from the 00:02:12 mark of the video to the 24:22 mark of the video:

 

Here are the highlights from the presentation:

  • Settlement with Houston Complete
  • 100% Ownership transferred to the Brazos River Authority (BRA)
  • New agreement supersedes prior agreement between BRA and Houston
  • Resolves litigation relating to HB 2846
  • BRA pays off outstanding TWDB debt for the property
  • Begin US Army Corps of Engineers 404 permitting process
  • Final design and construction expected to take another 4-7 years
  • Construction not expected to begin until 2030 at the earliest
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