Q: Where will the plant be located?
A: The plant will be on 92 acres in northwest Austin near the intersection of RM 620 and Bullick Hollow Road. (see map link)

Q: How is the project being financed?
A: The land for the project was purchased with funds from a bond election in 1984. The current total estimate is $508 million, assuming the plant is completed in 2014. This number is adjusted for inflation.

Q: How was the site for the plant selected?
A: The Austin City Council chose the site with the assistance of the Environmental Board and the Water and Wastewater Commission. The city has done environmental reviews of the Bullick Hollow tract and found no endangered species or other significant environmental issues.

Q: What will be on the site?
A: The plant will consist of water treatment facilities, a raw water intake and tunnel, pump stations, and pipelines to get water from Lake Travis through the plant and into the water system. (see map diagram)

Q: How much water will the plant be able to treat?
A: The first phase of the plant will be able to treat 50 million gallons per day. When the plant is complete, it will be able to treat 300 million gallons per day.

Q: Who will receive the water?
A: Customers who currently receive Austin Water Utility service and future customers within the Austin Water Utility service area.

Q: When does construction start?
A: Construction began this fall on the Bullick Hollow Road improvements, the first construction project. Other construction projects will continue through 2014.

Q: Will the roads around the plant be able to handle the traffic?
A: Ranch Road 620 is adequate to handle construction traffic. Road improvements on Bullick Hollow Road will begin in September 2009 to accommodate construction traffic.

Q: What will the city do to protect the environment on and around the plant site?
A: The City of Austin has created a process called "Environmental Commissioning." This process involves environmental experts in every step of the process of building the new water treatment plant. This team is responsible for constantly auditing the environmental performance goals of the project from planning, design, construction and through operation.

Q: Where will the water for the plant come from?
A: The water will be pumped from Lake Travis from a pump station located on a 12-acre site along the south side of Bullick Hollow Road.

Q: Will the plant lower the level of the lake?
A: Water removed from by the treatment plant will not make a significant impact on the level of the lake.

Q: Will the pumps be noisy?
A: The pumps will housed inside of a building designed to reduce noise to a minimum.

Q: Where and how deep will the water intake be located?
A: Their will be three water intakes at different depths in Lake Travis. However, only one intake will be used at a time and is dependent on the current depth of the lake. Buoys will be installed around the perimeter of the intake facilities to alert boaters.

Q: How noticeable will the buildings for the pump station and water treatment plant be?
A: All of the facilities associated with the treatment plant will be designed to fit in with the surrounding landscape.

Q: Will there be dangerous chemicals stored at the site?
A: No. The treatment plant will use a new process that creates non-hazardous chlorine molecule on-site from a simple, safe chemical reaction process. No chlorine will arrive on tanker trucks as they do in older water treatment plants.

Q: How bright will the lights from the plant and pump station be?
A: The site lighting will be designed to minimize off-site impacts by installing hooded lamps, optimizing pole heights, providing on/off switches so that working lights can be turned off, and specifying the minimum illumination intensity necessary to achieve the design objectives. Future design submittals will include details on site lighting.

Q: How will the water get from the plant to the rest of Austin?
A: Two new transmission lines will be constructed from the water plant. The transmission lines will supply water to the north and northwest parts of the service area. Tests are currently underway to determine the exact route.

Q: How far below the ground are water transmission lines?
A: Water tunnels from the lake and the water transmission lines from the plant will be between 50 and 150 below the ground.

Q: Will the new plant be a green building?
A: WTP4 will be constructed to achieve silver rating through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System TM. Rain water for on-site irrigation will be collected. Additionally, Austin Water is working with Austin Energy to install solar panels at various locations. More information will be available as design progresses.

Q: How can I get more information about the project?
A: Refer to Public Education and Outreach.

Q: How can I arrange to have a speaker talk to my organization about the project?
A: Call 498-9874 or email info@wtpfour.com to schedule a briefing for your group.