A Brief History of
the West Harris County Regional Water Authority
The West Harris County Regional
Water Authority was created by HB 1842, introduced by Rep.
Callegari and sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jon Lindsay.
The bill was approved by the 77th Texas Legislature, signed
into law by Governor Perry on May 28, 2001, and immediately
went into effect. The City of Katy consented to the creation
of the Authority on May 21, 2001, and the City of Houston
consented on June 6, 2001.
The WHCRWA was created to
“accomplish the purposes of Section 59, Article XVI, of the
Texas Constitution, including the acquisition and provision
of surface water and groundwater for residential,
commercial, industrial, agricultural, and other uses, the
reduction of groundwater withdrawals, the conservation,
preservation, protection, recharge, and prevention of waste
of groundwater, and of groundwater reservoirs or their
subdivisions, the control of subsidence caused by withdrawal
of water from those groundwater reservoirs or their
subdivisions, and other public purposes stated in the act.”
A Board, made up of nine directors
who serve staggered four-year terms, governs the Authority.
Directors must: (i) be at least 18 years of age; (ii) be a
Texas resident; (iii) own land or be a qualified voter
within the director precinct; and (iv) have served as a
director of one or more districts for a total of at least
four years. To serve as a director representing any part of
the City of Katy, the individual must (i) meet the other
specified qualifications, and (ii) must either meet the
requirement of having served as a director of one or more
districts for at least four years, or must have served as
the mayor or a member of the city council of the City of
Katy.
The Authority has completed its
Groundwater Reduction Plan (GRP) and gained Harris Galveston
Subsidence District (“the District”) approval in compliance
with the District’s regulations requiring GRP submittal. The
District’s regulations also require conversion to surface
water via a 30% reduction of groundwater usage by 2010; 70%
by 2020; and 80% by 2030. Successful negotiations with the
City of Houston yielded a mutually satisfactory long-term
water supply contract. The Authority continues to implement
numerous surface water delivery projects to deliver water to
utility districts, and the first surface water was delivered
in September 2005.
The Authority charges fees for
surface water delivered by the Authority and for groundwater
pumped by various water well owners. To date (5-08), WHCRWA
has held four successful Bond Sales that have funded the
many Capital Improvement Projects and paid the City of
Houston for future water supplies required by the long term
contract.
The WHCRWA has been in existence
since only 2001, and the Board takes considerable pride in
being able to announce such momentous accomplishments in
that limited time period. The Authority has designed,
purchased easements for, and constructed over 27 miles of
new waterlines and constructed its Pump Station # 1, all of
which will serve to deliver millions of gallons of surface
water a day to a variety of utility districts. |
