PROPOSED BELTON-STILLHOUSE PIPELINE


The following is a cut-and-paste from my Killeen Daily Herald article which originally ran on 09 Oct. 2022...


By Bob Maindelle | For the Herald Oct 9, 2022

On Sept. 21, the Brazos River Authority conducted an open-house-style public meeting at the Bell County Exposition Center to both make the public aware of BRA plans to construct a pipeline which would conduct water from Belton Lake into Stillhouse Hollow Lake, and to receive input from the public about those plans.

The cost of this project, which includes construction of the 6- to 7-mile long, 48-inch diameter pipeline, construction of a pumping facility near Frank’s Marina on Belton Lake, inline pumping stations, and an outlet location at Stillhouse Hollow, is estimated at $90 million dollars, to be funded by BRA.

Once begun, the project is forecast to take two years to complete.





CAPTION (PIPELINE MAP): This map shows the potential routing of the pipeline connecting Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.



CAPTION (PUMP STATION): This drawing shows the forecast location for the pump station feeding Lake Belton water to Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. The location is between Frank's Marina and the Dead Fish Grill off of FM439.

In order to help local anglers understand a bit more about this topic, I reached out to Brazos River Authority Corporate Executive Officer/General Manager David Collinsworth.

Collinsworth referred me to Brad Brunett, BRA’s Central and Lower Basin Regional Manager. Brunett contacted me by phone and agreed to respond to the questions I posed to the BRA about this project.
What follows in question-and-answer format are the questions I presented to Brunett, and his answers to those questions, verbatim.

Q: Please summarize the intended purpose of the pipeline.

A: The purpose of the pipeline is to periodically supplement water supply at Lake Stillhouse Hollow with water transferred from Lake Belton. The transfer of water will only be necessary during drought conditions, so the pipeline will not run continuously.
Water use in the region is growing with increasing population, and the pipeline is needed to provide reliable water supply to entities that use water from Lake Stillhouse Hollow, including the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 and its customers, the Central Texas Water Supply Corporation and its customers, the Salado Water Supply Corporation, the Kempner Water Supply Corporation, the City of Lampasas, the Jarrell-Schwertner Water Supply Corporation, the High Gabriel Water Supply Corporation, the City of Georgetown, the City of Round Rock, and the Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District.
All of these entities contract with the Brazos River Authority for water supply from Lake Stillhouse Hollow. These contracts have been in place for many years with water use under them growing as population increases.

Q: The contracts have maximum use limits in place, and the Brazos River Authority is not entering any new or increased water supply contracts as a result of this project.
What is the forecast start of construction date?

A: We hope to start construction by the latter part of 2025.

Q: What, if any, cons does BRA acknowledge concerning the project?

A: During drought conditions when water is being transferred through the pipeline, the lake level at Lake Belton will be lower than it would have been without the project; however, the lake level at Stillhouse Hollow will be higher. Drought periods will be temporary, and most of the time, there will be no significant effect on lake levels. The primary purposes of both reservoirs are flood control and water supply.

Q: What conditions would trigger a release of water from Belton into Stillhouse?

The transfer of water from Lake Belton to Lake Stillhouse Hollow will be based on predetermined elevations at the lakes. These elevations will change through time as water use increases.
For example, at the current water use levels, no transfer is needed. Looking out into the future, the need to transfer water will be different in 20 years than it will be in 50 years.
However, the maximum transfer of water will be limited to about 33,000 acre-feet/year. For perspective, Lake Belton holds about 433,000 acre-feet of water at its normal level, and Lake Stillhouse Hollow holds about 230,000 acre-feet.

Q: What conditions currently trigger a release of water from Stillhouse to Georgetown?

A: We currently transfer water from Lake Stillhouse Hollow to Lake Georgetown based on lake level triggers at Lake Georgetown. When Lake Georgetown drops more than 8 feet below full, we begin transferring water. When Lake Georgetown rises to within 6 feet of full, we shut down the pumps.

Q: What would you say to those who perceive this action as a power/resource grab by Williamson County and the urban north Austin powers that be?

A: The Brazos River Authority is a regional water provider within the Brazos River basin, which spans more than 42,000 square miles. Our job is to serve the water supply needs of all our customers across the basin.

While we have three customers in Williamson County that access water from Lake Stillhouse Hollow, there are a number of other customers in Bell and other surrounding counties that rely on Lake Stillhouse Hollow for their water supply.

This project is just as vital to these other customers as it is to those in Williamson County. Additionally, as noted above, the BRA will not be entering any new water supply contracts or increasing existing contracts, as a result of this project.

_____________________________________________

Visit www.brazos.org/Belhouse or follow @Brazoswater on Twitter to get the latest on construction updates and roadway closures. Contact BRA’s Public Information Office at 4600 Cobbs Drive, Waco, TX 76714; phone 888-922-6272 or email Belhouse@brazos.org.

PHOTO CREDIT (both items): Brazos River Authority

CAPTION PHOTO 1 (PUMP STATION): This drawing shows the forecast location for the pump station feeding Lake Belton water to Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. The location is between Frank's Marina and the Dead Fish Grill off of FM439.

Interesting….🤔

Last Q & A almost says it all.

Supply our water to Georgetown/Williamson County.

I figure this will become pretty common in Texas. Corpus Christi can pull water from 3 different lakes: Lake Mathis, Lake Texana and Choke Canyon, none of which are close. All the crying about zebra mussels and at some point, they’ll just be pumping them to other lakes anyways.

Thank you Bob. Good information.

They've basically killed Lake Corpus Christi because they keep draining it too much all in the name of keeping the salinity in the bay to a "healthy" level for the shrimps.

I know it sounds odd since they are so close to the Colorado River, but Georgetown and Roundrock are both in the Brazos Basin. The runoff from there eventually ends up in the Brazos River. And the way the state legislature structured things back in the 1930's when they created the River Authorities dictates that each basin is primarily responsible for it's own water supply. Yes you can do what's called an Interbasin Transfer of surface water, but it's pretty rare.

I have been hearing that they are reporting in the paper now. But when they were putting the line from SH to Georgetown they had looked into that line way back then, I saw the proposed line and that is it. Texan that is why CORR pays extra for the water from Travis because the out flow (from ww plants) flow into the Brazos basin not back in the Colorado basin.

offs... we are looking at relocating to Lake Belton. Lake is already low, cant imagine what this would do. But with the Austin area growth they are going to need water.