Project Spotlight: BCRUA – Deep Water Intake Electric System Upgrades

BCRUA – Deep Water Intake Electric System Upgrades

The Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority (BCRUA), a partnership among the cities of Cedar Park, Leander, and Round Rock, is undertaking a significant infrastructure project to enhance water supply reliability for the rapidly growing Central Texas region. The Deep Water Intake Project aims to provide a stable water source from Lake Travis, particularly during drought conditions, and to support future population growth.

The project involves constructing a deep-water intake system on Lake Travis, featuring two lake taps with multi-level intake screens. These connect to a gravity-fed intake tunnel approximately 9,000 feet long and 12 feet in diameter, leading to a new raw water pump station capable of handling up to 145 million gallons per day (MGD).

M&S Engineering served as a subconsultant to Walker Partners for the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority’s (BCRUA) Phase 2 Deep Water Intake and Water Treatment Plant Expansion. The project required significant electrical infrastructure upgrades to support a 18 MW load at the new pump station, which will be powered via PEC (Pedernales Electric Cooperative) facilities. M&S Engineering provided detailed design for the overhead distribution system improvement, substation upgrades, project management, project coordination, community outreach and expert witness for the Public Utility Commission. Project included 13 miles of new overhead 24.7kV double circuit lines and rebuild of 3.5 miles to serve the new water plant.