1999-02-01Special Called Workshop of City Council

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_ _ REQUEST FOR POTABLE WATER SAN JACINTO STATE PARK TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND WILDLIFE BACKGROUNlJ) The City of La Porte has received an informal request from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to consider providing potable water to the San Jacinto Battleground State Park. The Department currently produces its own water from a single well. Before 1994, the Park operated a small package surface water treatment plant. This plant was abandoned due to poor condition, high maintenance costs and problems retaining certified surface water treatment plant operators. Concerns with maintaining the well, distribution system and water quality, as well as a mandate from the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District to convert to surface water, have triggered an evaluation of the Department's alternatives to providing potable drinking water to Park visitors. Compounding the problem is the extreme fluctuations in water demand, with low demands during the week and high demands on the weekend. The Park is on the verge of undergoing many changes to conform to the Park's Master Plan completed in 1998. The changes will require relocation and/or replacement of much of the utility infrastructure at the Park. The Department retained Turner, Collie & Braden to evaluate alternative methods of supplying and distributing water to serve San Jacinto Park. REQUEST FOR WATER On December 22, 1998, city staff met with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff and the Consultant (Tc&B). The Consultant's report, dated October 1998, recommended the State approach the City regarding the possibility of obtaining treated surface water from the City of La Porte. At that meeting. the Department inquired into the availability of water, as well as the city's position on operating and maintaining the transmission line from SH225, as well as the internal distribution system within Park boundaries. The Department has requested consideration of a Water Service Agreement to provide an average daily water service of 19,800 gallons per day, with a maximum daily usage of 105,900 gallons per day. The water service request is for a minimum pressure of 45 psi at the park entrance or 56 psi at the point of connection at Underwood and SH 225 with a peak hourly demand of 220 gpm. The Parks Department understands the need to pay for design and construction of the proposed transmission system from the point of connection to the Park's take-point. The proposed system would be approximately 22,000 feet of8-inch pipe and appurtenances, at an estimated cost of $575,300. Discussions led to the possibility of oversizing the system to accommodate additional potential customers. It was noted that the City and Parks knew of no potential customers between the take-point and the Park.