The Coastal Water Authority (CWA) was created by Special Act of the Texas Legislature in 1967 with the mission to provide raw water to the City of Houston as well as to serve industry and municipalities in Harris, Chambers, and Liberty County. CWA currently provides raw water to the City of Houston and approximately 100 industrial customers in the region as well as operates and maintains the Lake Houston Dam and pump station, and the Trinity River Pump Station and canal system. The Luce Bayou Project is expected to be in service and delivering water to Lake Houston on or before the year 2020.
The Luce Bayou Interbasin Transfer Project (Luce Bayou Project) has been contemplated for more than 65 years as a strategy for supplying water to the City of Houston and the growing unincorporated areas of North and West Harris County. A Houston Chronicle article dating back to March 22, 1938 summarizes the project as conceived at that time. Since that time, the Luce Bayou Project has remained a fundamental building block of the region's long-term water supply planning and is currently a key element of the 2006 Region H Water Plan and the 2007 State Water Plan.
Timeline
However, the concept of transferring water from the Trinity River for use in the San Jacinto River Basin is not new to the area. The City of Houston was granted the water rights permit for Lake Livingston in 1959, which allows for the total annual diversion of over 940,000 acre-feet (840 million gallons per day) of Trinity River water for use in the San Jacinto River Basin. The original water rights permit allows for the diversion of Trinity River water from the existing Trinity River Pump Station and/or an additional diversion point referred to as the Capers Ridge Pump Station. The diversion of Trinity River water, via the existing Trinity River Pump Station and canal system, has occurred since the late 1960’s and is currently the major source of raw water for the City of Houston’s East and Southeast Water Purification Plants. These two plants combined have the capacity to provide approximately 700 million gallons per day of treated water to the City of Houston and their contract customers in the region.
The Luce Bayou Project will utilize the Capers Ridge Pump Station to divert Trinity River water upstream of the existing Trinity River Pump Station to supplement existing supply in Lake Houston and provide raw water to the Northeast Water Purification Plant. This additional supply in Lake Houston is needed to meet rapidly growing demands for surface water in north and west Harris County as well as the long-term needs of the City of Houston and Montgomery County. While the Capers Ridge Pump Station provides for an additional diversion location and the ability to optimize the existing permitted supply, the total annual diversions from both pump stations will not exceed the original permitted amount of 940,000 acre-feet.