§ 33-452. Raw water supply, service area and system information.

The City of Waxahachie diverts its primary raw water source from Lake Waxahachie. The surface water reservoir is located on South Prong Creek of the Trinity River Basin in Ellis County, in the southern section of the City of Waxahachie approximately four (4) miles from the downtown district. The drainage area for Lake Waxahachie is approximately thirty (30) square miles. The Ellis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 (District) was issued Water Rights Permit No. 1742 on March 14, 1955 from the Board of Water Engineers and a Certificate of Adjudication No. 08-5018 on May 5, 1987 from the Texas Water Commission. The permit and adjudication authorizes the district to impound thirteen thousand five hundred (13,500) acre-feet of water with permission to use three thousand five hundred seventy (3,570) acre-feet of water annually for municipal purposes. The City of Waxahachie operates and maintains the reservoir, dam, two (2) raw water pump stations, raw water pipe lines and the surface water treatment plant for the district.

The district also holds Certificate of Adjudication No. 08-5021A for diversion of raw water from Bardwell Reservoir in the amount not to exceed four thousand three hundred twenty (4,320) acre-feet of water per annum. In addition, the district holds Certificate of Adjudication No. 08-5021C, issued February 6, 1998. This certificated allows for a maximum of sixty-five (65) percent of the maximum amount of water authorized for diversion by the District for re-use. This is sixty-five (65) percent of the total of four thousand three hundred twenty (4,320) acre-feet and three thousand five hundred seventy (3,570) acre-feet from Bardwell Reservoir and Lake Waxahachie respectively that is discharge back into Waxahachie Creek from the City of Waxahachie's wastewater treatment plant located approximately nine (9) miles upstream from the upper end of the conservation pool of Bardwell Reservoir. This sixty-five (65) percent equates to an additional five thousand one hundred twenty-eight and one-half (5,128.5) acre-feet of water per annum that can be diverted for use from Bardwell Reservoir.

On December 4, 1991 the district contracted with the Trinity River Authority (TRA), as a party of the Ellis County Regional Water Supply Project Contract, for the right to purchase and divert, an average annual quantity of 2.150 mgd raw water from the Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District Number One's (now Tarrant Regional Water District, TRWD) pipeline which conveys raw water from Richland Chambers and Cedar Creek Reservoirs. In the fall of 1999 the district contracted with the Trinity River Authority for the purchase of an additional 2.500 mgd of raw water. The district currently has contracted for 4.65 mgd annual average quantity of raw water through TRA from the TRWD pipelines.

The district has no employees and is a board appointed by the City of Waxahachie City Council for the sole purpose of securing and financing water rights and water infrastructure to support the City of Waxahachie water customers. For the purpose of this plan the district and the City of Waxahachie are the same entity.

The City of Waxahachie is located in central Ellis County and encompass approximately forty-eight (48) square miles. The city currently has a customer base of approximately fourteen thousand one hundred one (14,101) connections with approximately seventy (70) percent single-family residential, eleven (11) percent commercial and one (1) percent industrial and serves approximately thirty-one thousand seven hundred thirty-one (31,731) people within the city. The City of Waxahachie's water supply sources are from Lake Waxahachie, Bardwell Reservoir, Cedar Creek and Richland Chambers Reservoirs. The City of Waxahachie water use over the past three (3) years averages approximately 5.90 mgd with a peak of approximately ten (10.0) mgd.

The City of Waxahachie has an established sanitary sewer collection and treatment system with approximately two hundred forty-five (245) miles of collection lines. The collected wastewater is treated by an activated sludge biological treatment process utilizing an ultraviolet light disinfection process with the effluent being returned back to Waxahachie Creek, thence to Bardwell Reservoir. The City of Waxahachie's wastewater treatment plant is currently rated at eight (8) mgd annual average. Additional information is contained in the City's Utility Profile for Retail Water Supplier, Appendix "A".

The City of Waxahachie's Water Supply System consists of the following:

Raw Water

Raw water supply is primarily from Lake Waxahachie and is pumped through one (1) of the two (2) raw water pump stations located on the lake. As the water elevation in Lake Waxahachie decline, raw water is pumped from Bardwell Reservoir to Lake Waxahachie to help manage available water storage. Bardwell Reservoir has one (1) pump station with three (3) submersible pumps rated at six million (6,000,000) gallons per day each with a firm pumping capacity of twelve (12.0) mgd and two (2) parallel raw water lines, a twenty- and twenty-seven-inch diameter lines. Raw water is either pumped directly into Lake Waxahachie or on an emergency situation it may be pumped directly to the City of Waxahachie Surface Water Treatment Plant through the smaller raw water pump station located at Lake Waxahachie. There are two (2) raw water pump stations located at Lake Waxahachie. Raw Water Pump Station Number 1 has a firm pumping capacity of seven (7.0) mgd (with the largest pump out of service). Raw Water Pump Station No. 2 has a firm pumping capacity of eighteen (18.0) MGD (with the largest pump out of service). Raw water is pumped through parallel twenty-inch raw water pipelines from Lake Waxahachie to the surface water treatment plant. These pipelines together have a rated capacity of eighteen (18.0) MGD.

Water Treatment

The City of Waxahachie has one (1) conventional surface water treatment plant is currently rated at 18.7 mgd treatment capacity and fifteen (15) mgd high service pumping capacity. There are three (3) clearwells within the plant site with a total treated water storage capacity of four and one-half million (4,500,000) gallons. The plant is located at 1900 Howard Road in the southern part of the city. The surface water treatment plant has been participating in the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Texas Optimization Program, since 1999.

August 16, 2006 the City of Waxahachie executed a contractual Agreement with Rockett Special Utility District to form the Robert W. Sokoll Joint Venture partnership to construct the Robert W. Sokoll Surface Water Treatment Plant. The plant was commissioned in December 2009 with a treatment capacity of twenty (20.0) mgd. The plant receives its' raw water from the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) pipelines. The City of Waxahachie is co-owner of the treatment plant which utilizes microfiltration membrane treatment process. The treatment processes includes pre-disinfection, coagulation, sedimentation, granular activated carbon for taste and odor and iron and manganese removal, immersed microfiltration, on-site chlorine generation, vu/peroxide for enhanced taste and odor control and a four million (4,000,000) gallon clearwell. The City of Waxahachie has a high service pump station at the plant with a firm pumping capacity eleven (11.00) mgd.

Treated Water Storage and Distribution Systems

The treated water storage in the distribution system consist of three (3) ground storage reservoirs with a storage capacity total of three and one-half million (3,500,000) gallons. In addition, there are three (3) elevated storage tanks with a storage capacity of five million (5,000,000) gallons.

The City of Waxahachie's water distribution system has approximately two hundred one (201) miles of water distribution mains ranging in size from two-inch in diameter through twenty-four-inch diameter and over one thousand three hundred fifty (1,350) fire hydrants.

( Ord. No. 2742, Exh. A § I(A), 5-5-14 )