|
The Trinity River Authority of Texas
|
 |
The Trinity River Authority of Texas
is an independent political subdivision of the State of Texas. Created by the Texas
Legislature in 1955, the Authority has evolved into one of the largest of all of the Texas
river authorities, primarily as a result of the geographic territory in which TRA provides
service. |
|
The Trinity River, and all of the
other rivers in Texas, was formed when the primordial seas withdrew from the southwestern
land mass of what is now the United States. Located in the eastern third of Texas, the
Trinity River watershed is an extended drainage system. The Trinity River watershed
includes 17,965 square miles, or approximately six percent of the State’s
landmass. The Trinity River is the most developed watershed in the state. Since 1911
some 29 major reservoirs have been constructed within the Trinity River Basin. In addition
five reservoirs located outside of the Trinity River Basin are either supplying, or are
under contract to supply water to basin users.
|
 |
 |
The
Trinity River serves as a primary water supply to
more than 6.0 million people in the upper basin centered
around the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, and
an additional 5.0 million people on the upper Gulf
Coast of Texas centered around the greater Houston
metropolitan area. The Houston metropolitan area is
outside of the Trinity River basin. According to the
last census, these two regions contain approximately
half of the state’s population. By every measure
the Trinity River is the most strategically important
water body in Texas.
|
 |
TRA’s
political subdivision, shown in yellow in this image,
includes approximately 14,000 square miles and is home to
over 20 percent of the state’s population. The political
subdivision’s boundaries are spelled out in metes and bounds
in the statute creating the Authority. This includes all
or part of the
17
counties along the basin.
It is from within this political subdivision that the
Authority’s Board of Directors is selected.
|
| Three functions of TRA include
maintenance of a basin-wide master plan, sponsorship of federal projects and providing
water and wastewater related services within the political subdivision. |
 |
/about_6.jpg) |
For the fiscal Year 2009, which began on December 1, 2008, the Authority will be
operating on a total budget of $194,568,880. Of this amount, 73.8 percent
or $143,680,550 will be
dedicated to operating funds for the Authority's water and wastewater-related projects. A
total of 16 percent or $31,120,000 will be dedicated toward non-operating funds; 4.6
percent or $8,943,320 will be dedicated governmental funds; and 5.6 percent or
$10,825,010 will be dedicated to internal service funds.
|
|
|
A further look at funds dedicated to our operating projects shows that $103,669,380 is
dedicated toward the operation and maintenance of regional wastewater treatment
and treatment facilities. TRA is the largest operator of regional wastewater treatment
facilities in Texas. Water treatment activities total $35,232,170, water storage in Corps
of Engineers and TRA owned and operated lakes total $4,075,370, and operating
recreation facilities total $703,630.
|
/about_7.jpg)
|
|
|
Wastewater Treatment
- The
story of water in the Trinity River basin is one of use, and reuse and reuse again. During
dry summer weather the base flow of the Trinity River is over 95 percent treated
wastewater downstream of the D/FW metropolitan area. When impounded in TRA’s Lake
Livingston in the lower basin area this same flow becomes a primary surface water supply
for the greater Houston metropolitan
area.
|
|
|
The Upper Trinity Water Quality Compact plays a key role in cleaning up the water so that
it can be reused. Membership includes TRA, the City of Fort Worth, the City
of Dallas, and the North Texas Municipal Water District. These entities operate a series
of regional wastewater treatment systems, the service areas of which can be seen in this
image. Large regional facilities of this type allow customer entities to benefit from
economies of scale and allow the operators of the systems the ability to narrowly focus
capital improvement efforts.
|
The Compact was created
by an interlocal agreement in 1975. This organization is dedicated to the collection of
water quality data that allows regulatory agencies to base permitting and other regulatory
decisions on solid scientific information.
|
|
|
| With a
treatment plant located in Grand Prairie, and more than 200 miles of pipeline, TRA’s
Central Regional Wastewater Treatment System was named as the best large wastewater
treatment plant in 1995 in the state of Texas by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission and as the best large plant in 1995 in the Environmental Protection
Agency’s Region 6, a five-state area.
|
|
|
| The system provides services for a
population of over one million people. The Central Regional Wastewater System provides
wastewater transportation and treatment services to all of Arlington, Bedford, Carrollton,
Colleyville, Coppell, the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Euless, Farmers Branch,
Grand Prairie, Irving and Mansfield, and portions of Addison, Cedar Hill, Dallas,
Duncanville, Fort Worth, Grapevine, Hurst, Keller, North Richland Hills and
Southlake.
|
|
With the ability to treat
162 million
gallons of wastewater per day, this regional treatment facility is one of the largest and
best-operated plants in the state of Texas. This project’s staff works with
state-of-the-art technology throughout the wastewater treatment process to produce a high
quality discharge that helps protect the Trinity River’s water quality.
|
 |
The high quality of this
project’s effluent is demonstrated by the system’s wastewater reuse project,
which delivers treated wastewater to irrigate golf courses and to maintain canal and lake
levels in the Las Colinas area of Irving, Texas. This reuse not only reduces operating
costs of the system but is also an excellent example of water conservation.
|
Another innovative aspect of
TRA’s CRWS system involves the land application of 100 percent of the biosolids
produced during the treatment process to agricultural lands outside of the D/FW
metropolitan area. A contractor hauls the approximate 100 tons of biosolids produced daily
from the plant site and applies them at specified rates to permitted agricultural
lands. Farmers pay a nominal fee for this service and are currently lined up to receive
these soil enhancing biosolids which function as a low cost, high grade fertilizer. |
 |
The Trinity River Authority built 4.7 miles of wastewater pipeline for the Walker-Calloway Branches
project to transport
wastewater from North Richland Hills and Hurst to a receiving point in the Fort Worth
wastewater system pipelines for further transportation and treatment by Fort Worth at its
Village Creek plant. TRA also operates the wastewater pipeline and collects
payments from the two cities for payment to Fort Worth for service. |
The Authority’s
Ten
Mile Creek Regional Wastewater System provides wastewater collection and treatment
services for portions of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, DeSoto and Lancaster in
Dallas County,
and all of Ferris in Ellis County. Wastewater from these member cities is transported to
the treatment plant through 33 miles of pipeline. Originally designed to treat wastewater
flows of 6.78 million gallons per day, the treatment plant has been expanded three times
and is now capable of treating 20 mgd for a population of 200,000. An engineering
evaluation has demonstrated that the plant can successfully treat up to 24 mgd.
|
 |
 |
The
Red Oak Creek Regional Wastewater
System serves all of Ovilla, Glenn Heights and Red Oak, and portions of DeSoto, Cedar Hill
and Lancaster. Capable of serving a population of 35,000, the system consists of a
5.0 mgd
treatment plant and 28 miles of pipeline. TRA’s Red Oak plant features a
pastoral landscape design. The plant is sheltered from the road by trees and gently
rolling berms. Low intensity lighting, noise control features and an architecturally designed
administration building which resembles a country home helps preserve the plant
site’s rural character. Since beginning operations in February 1991, the plant
has provided a positive environmental impact on the Red Oak Creek ecosystem.
|
The
Mountain Creek Regional Wastewater System began
providing services to Cities of Grand Prairie, Midlothian
and Venus in mid-2004. Additional contracting parties
located in southern Dallas, Tarrant, and northern Ellis
Counties may be added to the system in the future.
The
system includes a new 3.0 MGD wastewater treatment plant,
multiple new lift stations and force mains as well as
Midlothian’s existing 0.9 MGD wastewater plant located
immediately adjacent to the new plant. Components of the
new 3.0 MGD plant consist of aeration basins, aerobic
digesters, final clarifiers and ultraviolet light
disinfection. |
The innovative
Denton Creek Regional Wastewater System first treated
wastewater flows in May 1990. As originally conceived in 1987, the system was to provide
service for the cities of Fort Worth, Haslet and Roanoke.
|
 |
Since that time, the
system has increased its service area to include portions of the cities of Southlake and
Keller, and the Towns of Marshall Creek, Circle T, MUD Numbers 1, 2 and 3,
Northlake, Flower Mound and Westlake. The
Denton Creek Regional Wastewater Plant, located in Roanoke, is capable of treating an
average flow of 11.5 mgd. The system contains 25 miles of interceptor pipelines varying
from 15-inches to 36-inches. |
Innovative technologies have been
incorporated into the design of the Denton Creek plant, including one of the first
effective ultraviolet light disinfection systems in the state. Other innovative design
systems include the Alkapro monitoring system, which reduces power consumption, and a
three million gallon detention basin.
|
This basin can function as a holding basin during race events at the adjacent NASCAR
racetrack or it can be used as a batch reactor, treating wastewater as a conventional
activated sludge process. |
 |
TRA’s
DCRWS was a
prerequisite for the construction of Fort Worth’s Alliance Airport in southern Denton
County. The Alliance project has proven to be a formidable engine for economic
development. Water Treatment -
TRA
operates five regional water treatment systems.
|
Raw water for
the Authority’s
Tarrant County Water Supply Project
comes from the Tarrant Regional Water District East
Texas Water System. Raw water is impounded in the
Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers Lakes in East Texas
and moved to the greater
Tarrant County area by a
District pipeline network. There is a tap in the line
that allows water to flow into Village Creek, which is
the principal tributary of Lake Arlington. |
 |
TRA pumps raw water
from Lake Arlington, treats it and delivers it to five cities in northeast Tarrant County
that are served by this water treatment system. Originally established in 1974 to provide
6 mgd of treated water for the cities of Bedford and Euless, this project has been
expanded four times. In 1980, the plant’s service area was expanded to include the
City of Colleyville and parts of Grapevine and North Richland Hills. The
Authority’s Tarrant County regional system is capable of providing more than
87 mgd of water. The expansions of the plant’s capacity is in response to population
growth within the customer cities. The system will ultimately deliver in excess of 100 mgd
to the cities of the system.
|
|
Cedar Hill, Duncanville and Grand Prairie contracted with TRA to construct a raw water intake structure and raw water pump station at Joe Pool Lake. Phase I of the
Lakeview Regional Water Supply Project,
completed in 1986 before the lake filled, involved only those components that would have been
cost prohibitive if constructed after the impoundment of water. TRA and the three cities
have formed the Lakeview Regional Water Supply Project to provide treated water. TRA and the
participant cities continue to plan for implementing a regional water treatment plant and
distribution pipeline when the demand for water makes it feasible. |
 |
TRA financed, designed and constructed the
Summit Regional Water Storage Project,
the eight million-gallon ground storage tank serve the needs of Duncanville and Cedar Hill. Water supplied under the cities’ wholesale water contracts with Dallas is delivered into the tank. The project’s high service pump stations for each city deliver each city’s needs into their systems, and the supporting pipelines and appurtenances necessary to
make the project operational for the benefit of both cities are a
part of the project.
|
|
 |
Up to
8 million gallons of water per day are supplied to the City of Huntsville by TRA’s Huntsville Regional Water Supply System. The system, located north of Huntsville,
provides service to a population of approximately 34,000 people. Raw water for this project is supplied by TRA through a withdrawal facility in the headwaters of Lake Livingston. Transmission lines move the water four miles to the treatment plant in northeast Walker County. |
After completing the treatment process, finished water is pumped 10 miles to ground storage facilities in Huntsville. At the storage facilities, the treated surface water is blended with well water from the city’s original groundwater system. In 1996, approximately 54,000 feet of distribution pipeline facilities were added to the system
in order to provide potable water to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Ellis and Estelle prison units located in northern Walker County.
In 1999, TRA entered into
an agreement with the City of Huntsville to provide 6 mgd of partially treated water to the Tenaska power generating plant in Grimes County, 30 miles from Huntsville. Thirty miles of pipeline were constructed, the capacity of the raw
water intake structure
was doubled to 16 mgd and the water plant capacity was
increased to accommodate
an additional 8 mgd of clarified water.
|
TRA supplies water to the City of Livingston through the
Livingston Regional Water Supply System. Raw water for this regional water
treatment system is withdrawn from TRA’s Lake Livingston. In 1992, the plant underwent expansion to
double its treatment capacity from 1 mgd to 2 mgd. The expansion was necessary in order to provide
potable water for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Terrell unit, which is located outside of Livingston directly across the farm road from the treatment plant. |
 |
|
Raw water is withdrawn from Lake Livingston and treated at the
Trinity County Regional Water Supply System before being distributed to
Trinity, Groveton, Westwood Shores Municipal Utility District, and the
Glendale, Trinity Rural and Riverside water supply corporations
This innovative
project withdraws raw water from Lake Livingston via a series of shallow wells placed in existing sand and gravel deposits on the Trinity
shoreline of the lake. The deposits act as filters and reduce treatment costs.
Significant cost
savings
were realized by the participants in this regional water system
because of the minimal treatment facilities that were required
in the Trinity System's treatment plant.
|
|
Water Storage - TRA owns the water rights in a series of federal lakes as well as in TRA’s Lake Livingston in the lower Trinity River. The Corps of Engineers built and operates
Bardwell Lake
in
Ellis County for water supply, flood control, and
recreational purposes. The Authority
serves as local sponsor for this project's water supply. Ennis and Ellis County Water
Control and Improvement Districts (Waxahachie) have contracted with TRA for
the use of all
of Bardwell Lake's dependable water supply yield. Corsicana, Dawson, the Post Oak Water Supply
Corporation and one industry have contracted with TRA,
Navarro Mills Lake's local sponsor,
for almost all of the annual 19,400 acre-foot dependable water supply yield. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers built and
operates this
Navarro County Lake for water supply, flood control and recreational
purposes.
|
|
 |
Lake Livingston is the
only main stem reservoir on the Trinity. There are approximately 15,000
square miles of uncontrolled
upstream watershed that drain into Lake Livingston. As the largest, single-purpose
water supply lake in Texas, Lake Livingston is also a popular recreational area. The
83,000 surface-acre lake is located in parts of
Trinity,
Polk,
Walker and
San Jacinto
counties. |
The lake, with its 450 miles of
shoreline, has the capacity to store 1.75 million acre-feet of water. Houston owns 70
percent of the dependable water supply yield. TRA owns the remaining 30 percent. TRA’s Huntsville, Livingston and Trinity County regional water supply systems draw
raw water from this lake. |
 |
|
 |
Construction of the
long-delayed Wallisville Saltwater Barrier resumed during 1992. Completed in 1999, it is
operated in conjunction with Lake Livingston to provide additional water supplies for the
City of Houston and salinity control for the lower Trinity River Basin. |
The gates and navigation lock located
at Wallisville eliminate the need for TRA to release fresh water from Lake Livingston
during the rice irrigation season to hydraulically flush saltwater from the lower river.
The Wallisville Project will protect the full water supply yield of Lake Livingston while
preserving the river delta.
|
 |
Recreation
Facilities -
TRA manages 2,900 acres of shoreline
lands and islands at Lake Livingston and administers commercial and marina leases on the
lake. Included in the acreage is Wolf Creek Park consisting of 137 acres.
Wolf Creek Park
is highly developed, providing a full range of camping and marina facilities. In addition, Tigerville Park, a day-use recreation area, offers picnic sites, a boat-launching ramp and
a fishing pier. Free public boat ramps are maintained at five other points on the lake. |
 |
 |
Financing Funds - Another area of service provided by
TRA within its political subdivision is tax-exempt financing for municipalities and
industry. TRA is able to issue tax-exempt bonds for water and sewer improvements for
municipalities and pollution control revenue bonds under the Clean Air Financing Act of
1973 for the installation of industrial pollution control facilities. TRA has
issued such bonds to finance wastewater treatment facilities for Huntsville.
|
 |
|
 |
TRA has issued tax-exempt bonds to
finance air pollution control facilities for the TXI concrete plant in Midlothian. TRA
exists to provide public services. If you have any
questions about the Authority and the services we provide please contact the
Authority’s Public Information Division at (817) 467-4343 or
publicinfo@trinityra.org.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|