A deal is in the works to temporarily transfer the rights of as much as 234.6 million gallons of Brazos River water from Richmond to Sugar Land.
If the city councils of those cities approve the plan tonight and Tuesday evening, Sugar Land would begin using the water to fulfill agreements with Telfair, First Colony and Venetian Estates groups to fill lakes and provide irrigation to pump stations.
Ironically, the deal is being considered even as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has begun pulling the plug on some entities’ Brazos River water rights (see related story).
While the City of Richmond has contracted with the Brazos River Authority and is paying for rights to the water, it isn’t yet using any of it, Richmond City Manager Glen Gilmore said Monday.
“It’s just going down the river anyway, so somebody ought to use it,” he added.
Water for the Sugar Land-area neighborhood use had been provided from Oyster Creek, through an “Interruptible Water Supply Contract” with the Gulf Coast Water Authority.
But, “due to the hot, driy weather, the Brazos River levels were so low that the GCWA was not able to supply us with water and required we stop pumping at all of our stations,” according to information provided to Sugar Land City Council by city Utility Director Suellen Staggs.
“This has caused a burden on our non-potable partners since they were not able to easily find alternative sources,” Staggs said.
Richmond has offered to allow Sugar Land the rights to up to 8 acre-feet of Brazos River water per day for 60 days, with a possible 30-day extension. An acre-foot is equal to 325,851 gallons. If Sugar Land needed to use the full 8 acre-feet per day for 60 days plus the 30-day extension, that would equal more than 234.6 million gallons, although Sugar Land doesn’t anticipate needing the full amount.
The proposed deal calls for Sugar Land reimbursing Richmond for the water at a cost of $57 per acre-foot of water – the Brazos River Authority’s current rate. The water would be released by the BRA from Lake Belton, upstream of Fort Bend County. The Gulf Coast Water Authority would pump the water from the river at its Shannon Pump station near Fulshear.
Ten days later, the water would be available in Oyster Creek.
“If we were to use 7 acre feet a day for 60 days, the city would reimburse Richmond $23,940,” Staggs said.
But the deal would pay another kind of dividend to Sugar Land, which would realize “Surface Water Conversion Credits” worth about $270,000. Such credits are provided to cities that convert some of their water use to surface sources ahead of the legally mandated deadline.
