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BASTROP — The pace of development in Bastrop is threatening to outstrip the city’s wastewater capacity, according to City Council, prompting urgent calls for action during its March 25 meeting.
City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino said the city’s wastewater Capital Improvements Plan is expected to cost more than $204 million, but only about $16 million will be recouped through impact fees or other outside sources.
“That’s what keeps me up at night. That’s why we had to go look at new technology, that’s why we have to be on not the bleeding edge, but the cutting edge,” Carrillo-Trevino said. “We have to do something different that monetizes the plants as opposed to being a very large sucking sound out of the budget that ends up being passed on to the ratepayers.”
According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, cities must begin designing a new or modified wastewater treatment plant when current systems reach 75% capacity and must begin construction at 90%.
Bastrop’s Wastewater Treatment Plants 1 and 2, located at 300 Water St., serve the east side of the Colorado River and have a combined capacity of 1.4 million gallons per day. The 75% threshold is 1.05 million gallons.
When the Steel Yard and River Terrace developments come online in 2026, usage is expected to reach 906,220 gallons per day, according to Curtis Hancock, director of water and wastewater.
“There is still a little bit of buffer there, but as you could see, it would be not far down the road,” Hancock said. “At some point, we’re going to have to look and decide, are we going to add another plant or are we going to add a transfer lift station? For me, my advice to y’all is I would add a plant. Because when you’re adding a plant, you’re adding capacity to the east side, but what you’re also doing is saving capacity in (Wastewater Treatment Plant No. 3).”
Hancock said a new plant would likely require a total timeline of nearly five years to complete, with 18 to 24 months of design followed by three years of construction.
“People say they can do it in two—we know they can’t, we’ve lived it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the eastside plants require costly repairs due to continuous operation, according to the council. Grit and debris have built up in the aeration basin, reducing treatment efficiency.
Carrillo-Trevino said the rehabilitation could cost between $2 million and $4 million but will restore some capacity and buy the city time.
Wastewater Treatment Plant No. 3, located at 384 Texas 304, came online in May 2024 and is permitted for 2 million gallons per day. It includes connector lines that can handle up to 8 million gallons, allowing for easier expansion.
The plant currently processes just over a half-million gallons daily but could see usage rise above 7 million gallons per day by 2030 as west-side development continues, officials said.
In addition to capacity demands, the city faces costly upgrades required by new TCEQ regulations related to phosphorus and other chemicals.
Carrillo-Trevino also warned the council to prepare for future growth north of the Colorado River.
“We will probably be seeing something north of the river within the next 10 years. There’s so much raw land up there now that future development of that would really put us into WWTP 4,” she said.
She added that she will bring funding options to council in April as the city approaches state-mandated thresholds for action on the east-side plants.
“We’ve got some good revenue flows to pay the debt,” Carrillo-Trevino said. “My goal is to keep it off the backs of the ratepayers.”
