Austin paid $7,225,000 to Beau Theriot, owner of the Oasis Restaurant and developer of land around Comanche Trail, Oasis Bluff and Bullick Hollow, for 12 acres of his land on Bullick Hollow. The city also paid Theriot $2,888 for easement rights to tunnel under his Preserve land, plus an additional $17,200 for Theriot to manage the 100 foot wide easement through the Preserve land above the tunnel. 

The city has also paid $32 million for 92 acres at RR 620 and Bullick Hollow.

The following are current plans from the WTP#4 Project Team.  Asher Price in the Austin American Statesman recently reported Councilman Lee Leffingwell has said conservation efforts are much cheaper than building a new water treatment plant.  Looks like Leffingwell change his mind in order to be elected Mayor!

INTAKE:

Austin's intake, with a maximum capacity to remove 300 million gallons per day (MGD), is planned to be a pipe 200 feet long and 8 feet in diameter lying diagonally on the slope of the lake bottom. Three 10 feet tall vertical intake pipes about 15 feet in diameter and screened with 1' wire openings will be anchored into the lake bottom and intersect the longer intake pipe. These vertical intakes will be placed at about 550MSL, 600MSL and 650MSL along the 200' pipe. (At the current lake level, the top intake will be exposed and unusable.) A vertical shaft going down to the 450 MSL will be connected to the intake and will meet the tunnel going to the pump station. All of this could involve underwater blasting. [Click here to view blasting video] The City owns 4.28 acres under Lake Travis.

This construction will involve a large part of the lake roped off for barges, etc. Water quality will suffer. How much depends on the City meetings with LCRA and TCEQ??? Will Hippie Hollow, about 1000 feet away, be affected? Will blasting and/or sediment affect fish, neighboring docks, etc.?

TUNNEL:

A 1 mile long tunnel that is 9 feet in diameter will begin under the lake at the 450 MSL and travel under the Edwards Formation and Balcones Canyonland Preserve land ending at a shaft on Bullick Hollow near Oasis Bluff. Will all this noise disturb the birds? The City will obtain a permit from U.S. Fish and Wildlife???

SHAFT:

A shaft about 400 feet deep and 30 feet to 40 feet in diameter will be dug on Bullick Hollow at the proposed pump station. The shaft will be used to construct the tunnel to the lake. (All of this will be done with a tunnel boring machine and some blasting.) The shaft will have vertical turbine pumps to bring the water up. What will all this do to the wells in the area? What about the noise from all those pumps? [Click here to view blasting video]

TRAFFIC:

All the rock and earth from the mile long tunnel and the shaft will be removed by dump trucks that will enter Bullick Hollow at the steep hill near Oasis Bluff.

The City is planning on excavating 2 acres of their 12 acre site for the pump station down 40' to make the area level. All of this excavation will be carried out on dump trucks as well. 4 acres will be developed initially.

How many trucks? The City is currently estimating the number required. Our "guess" is many more than 3000. What a traffic mess up a steep hill on a busy road! This is just debris removal. Equipment trucks, etc. will be required. This hill is really steep. Loaded trucks will have a hard time traveling up or down it. Lots of workers will be needed. Travis County owns Bullick Hollow. Only a short climbing lane is planned???

PUMP STATION:

An initial 18,000 square foot pump station (yes, 3 zeros) and the 40' shaft will sit in the 2 acre excavated area 40' beneath the highest point on the road. At least one more pump station will be required. An 8' tall rock fence set 8' off the ROW of Bullick Hollow will separate the pump station from the road. Five 1500 HP vertical pumps will be required for the first 50 million gallons per day (MGD). Up to 25 pumps will be required for the entire 300 MGD? (The City might use 3000 HP pumps.) The engineers hope technology will develop something soon. The constant noise from this much horse power will be a challenge.

What about security wiring and constant flood lights? The big flood lights will be "hooded". (The neighbors should be "relieved"!) The City will meet the security requirements yet to be determined.

TUNNEL FROM PUMP STATION:

A second shaft will be required (to get under the Edwards Formation) from the pump station to a tunnel that will travel under Bullick Hollow up to the treatment plant at RR 620 where another huge shaft will be dug to bring the debris and then the water up just behind Thunder Cloud Subs. (More noise from turbine pumps, plus more rocks and debris to be removed from the Oasis Bluff site?) Enjoy your food at Thunder Cloud Subs, the Boat Dock and Smokey J's! Poor employees of these businesses!

TREATMENT PLANT:

The final water treatment plant will occupy up to 60 of the 92 acres the city owns at 4 Points. This area is currently chain link fenced.  Most of the plant will be completely visible from RR 620. Some of it will loom above the lake. The Hill Country views will be gone.

The current businesses on the corner will remain to The Boat Dock. The city has purchased the Dive Shop. The entrance to the treatment plant will be on RR 620 just off the horribly busy intersection at RM 2222. No traffic light is planned!

A large electrical complex will be necessary to power this immense project. It will also sit on the 92 acres. Huge poles will run down Bullick Hollow to the pump station.

A lime storage and feed building, an ammonia storage and feed building, and a chemical (ferric sulfate, fluoride, sodium hexametaphosphate) storage and feed building will be on the site.

Ultraviolet rays (UV) disinfection is planned for future treatment. Rainwater harvesting is being evaluated for the site.

Three more shafts with tunnels under the Edwards Formation are planned to carry the treated water to the Austin customers. (More debris) A project of this size in a scenic and developed area with heavy traffic?!?!

The first 50 MGD project cost is estimated at $500 million. How much will the full 300 MGD cost be? The City also owns the land behind 3M where the treatment plant was first planned. It intends on keeping it. Austin also purchased 72 acres at Anderson Mill (FM 2769) and RR 620 as a back up site. The cost of this land was $11,740,000. The City Council will ultimately decide the fate of this land after all studies are completed on the Bullick Hollow/RR 620 site.

The water quality during construction is left to LCRA and TCEQ. (At present, this appears to be just the area to be roped off.) The noise level will be handled by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. The traffic problems will be with Travis County . Security measures will be met. No definite plans yet! Massive electrical will be needed. Lots of debris from shafts and tunnels will need to be removed. A project of this size with this much still to be determined???

After the initial construction that might last 3 to 5 years, about 500' should be "roped off" with lighted buoys in the lake. The huge pump station at Bullick Hollow will have the required security with the accompanying flood lights and noise. The hill country views from RR 620 and the lake will become a huge utility complex. All the traffic attached to a 60 acre plant and 18,000 square foot pump station will inundate the area.

The City of Austin will still have only one source of water - the drought/flood prone, over-stressed, over-promised Lower Colorado River.