Tag Archive for: Northeast Water Purification Plant

Northeast Water Purification Plant Expansion Now in Last Phase

The massive $1.77 billion expansion of the 120-acre Northeast Water Purification Plant near Summerwood is now well into its last phase. The last update to the expansion website is dated May 23, 2023 and estimates completion in 2025. Contractors have made considerable progress since May. This satellite image is dated 6/14/23. Note the area on the far right at the eastern side of the plant. That area contains most of the new construction activity.

Landsat Photo in Google Earth from June 2023

Aerial Photos Taken 8/12/23

Compare the photos below of the Northeast Water Purification Plant taken just two months later. They were all taken on 8/12/23.

Looking SW from NE Corner of plant.
Close up looking south.
Wider shot looking N from SE corner of plant. White circle will contain a giant water storage tank.
Looking W at entire plant. Note NE corner of Beltway 8 beyond plant and Atasocita Landfill in upper right.
Looking ENE toward Lake Houston

5X Capacity Increase Will Help Reduce Subsidence

The Northeast Water Purification Plant is designed to help ensure Houston’s water supply while reducing groundwater usage. Pumping groundwater at a rate greater than nature replaces it can cause irreversible subsidence. Subsidence has been linked to increased risk of flooding and structural damage.

The physical site above contains three major sections.

  • The original plant which can treat 80 million gallons per day (foreground)
  • First expansion phase (middle)
  • Second expansion phase (far end).

In May, Phase One was nearing completion and expected to be ready soon. Phase Two is the major focus of efforts now.

Together the first and second expansions will produce 320 million gallons per day, bringing the total treatment capacity to 400 million gallons.

Plant Will Handle Wide Range of Turbidity

Because Lake Houston is so shallow, turbidity increases rapidly during rainfall events. Accordingly, the partners have incorporated both wet- and dry-weather technologies into the treatment plant, so operators can switch nimbly as needed.

Innovative treatment strategies like chlorine dioxide, ozonation and biological filtration have been proven at other Texas facilities using similar source waters. Given the broad range of raw water qualities, they will help the City preserve high-quality finished water and deliver more of it.

Majority of Water Used by Industry

Houston Public Works Drinking Water Operations (DWO) currently serves about 2.2 million people. And Harris County’s population alone is projected to expand to 5.5 million people by 2050. But serving all those extra people is only half the battle.

Industrial and manufacturing operations use a MAJORITY of the City’s water.

Venus Price, P.E., Interim Senior Assistant Director, DWO

Many Sources Help Meet Demand, Protect from Drought

To meet demand DWO has three water treatment plants and 49 groundwater production facilities. They span four counties and 600 square miles, making Houston’s system one of the most complex in the nation.

And to feed those plants, the City of Houston owns a 70% share of Lake Livingston, a 70% share of Lake Conroe, 100% of Lake Houston and a 70% share of the future Allen’s Creek Reservoir on the Brazos River.

Lake Livingston supplies water to Lake Houston and the Northeast Water Purification Plant through the Luce Bayou Inter-Basin Transfer Project.

The variety of sources help sustain a growing population through droughts, such as the one we are in now. Corporations evaluate such factors when choosing where to expand. For more information about Houston’s water supply, check this informative history, written by Susan Smyer in 2008.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/22/2023

2184 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Construction of Northeast Water Purification Plant Past Halfway Mark

The City of Houston’s new $2 billion Northeast Water Purification Plant between Lake Houston and Beltway 8 East is now more than 50% complete. The last monthly progress report posted on GreaterHoustonWater.com was from more than a year ago. At the time, it showed construction 55% complete. Since then, the City has continued to post detailed periodic construction updates. The latest was in March 2022. It featured 79 pages of photos that dramatize the complexity of such a huge project. A flyover of the plant on 7/22/22 showed even more progress.

The latest timetable shows completion of the first phase early next year and completion of the second in 2025.

Project Benefits

The plant will provide enough treated surface water to reduce subsidence, which causes much of our flooding problems according to the City of Houston and the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District.

The Harris-Galveston Subsidence District says that land subsidence is caused by the withdrawal of groundwater. For that reason, regulations have been put in place to limit the use of groundwater.

By 2025, surface water must supply at least 60 percent of our water. The plant should meet that objective. And, it will wean 80% of the region off groundwater by 2035.

The plant expansion will supply 320 million gallons per day of treated water capacity in addition to the current 80 million gallons per day. So, capacity will quintuple by completion.

Then and Now Pictures Show Progress


The last time I posted about this project, construction was kicking into high gear back in September of 2020. Below are five pairs of photos from then and now that show how far it has come.

intake plant
September 2020
July 2022

The two pipelines leading to the Northeast Water Purification Plant are each 9 feet tall!

Northeast Water Treatment Plant
September 2020. Looking west toward Beltway.
July 2022
September 2020
July 2022
September 2020
July 2022

Improved Techniques

According to the City, “The expansion will include conventional treatment processes like the existing plant that help coagulate, settle, filter, and then disinfect water.” Quality will exceed Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requirements. 

In addition, says the City, an advanced oxidation process called ozonation will disinfect water to help ensure that harmful organisms such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium are eliminated. Ozonation also helps eliminate taste and odor causing compounds, which improves the aesthetic quality of the water supplied by the Northeast Water Purification Plant.

Posted by Bob Rehak on July 28, 2022

1794 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Three Meetings This Week Will Affect Future of Water in Lake Houston Area

Three meetings this week will affect water issues in the Lake Houston Area. Here’s a brief rundown on each and how you can participate.

Below: a little more about each meeting.

NE Water Purification Plant Update

This is an update on construction progress of the Northeast Water Purification Plant. The massive multi-billion project stretches from Lake Houston to the northeast corner of Beltway 8. Water was in the news last week when half the state was forced to boil water because of power outages at treatment plants. I sure hope the City plans to build a massive power-generation backup facility as part of this plant. If the presentation doesn’t address the subject, I hope someone asks.

The sprawling NE Water Purification Plant Expansion. Photographed Jan. 1, 2021

The new treatment facility is being constructed next to the current plant. When complete in 2024, it will provide 320 million gallons per day of treated water capacity in addition to the current 80 million gallons per day treated water capacity. It will help sustain growth by providing enough surface water to meet 80% of the region’s needs in 2035.

Register for the online meeting at: www.bit.ly/NEWPPFeb23.

Lone Star Groundwater/GMA-14 Meeting

At its last meeting, the LSGWCD board’s legal counsel spent 90 minutes trying to explain that they were indeed concerned about subsidence. But she failed to address the fact that one of their consultants told GMA-14 that LSGWCD would not consider subsidence in their desired future conditions (DFCs). Then the board deferred any decisions on subsidence and DFCs or even initiating the second phase of its subsidence study. At this month’s GMA 14 meeting, items 7, 8 and 10 all address DFCs.

The amount of groundwater that LSGWD would like to pump would create approximately 3 feet of subsidence near the Harris/Montgomery County line but only one foot at the Lake Houston Dam. This would essentially “tilt” the lake upstream and reduce the gradient of the East and West Forks. That could contribute to increased flooding between Conroe, The Woodlands, and the Lake Houston Area.

What will LSGWCD’s position be on subsidence this week? This is getting better than a soap opera.

Register for the GMA-14 Planning Committee meeting at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8339631182398941456.

The virtual platform for the meeting is Go To Webinar.

SJRA Board Agenda

Two unusual items on the SJRA agenda this month caught my eye:

6A) Election of officers to the board of directors. The governor recently appointed two new board members to the SJRA and reappointed Kaaren Cambio. And the term of board president Lloyd Tisdale expired. The reshuffling will require the board to select new officers. Who the board members elect among themselves to replace Tisdale could have long-term consequences for board priorities, such downstream flood mitigation.

6B) Consideration of a “public engagement policy.” This comes out of SJRA’s growing regional role and a Texas Sunset Advisory Commission requirement to improve public engagement efforts. Key components of the resolution:

  • Seeking general public input in advance of major actions and projects.
  • Proactively anticipating and interacting with those ultimately affected by SJRA decisions.

Register for the SJRA Go To Webinar meeting at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2515623643758462479. Use meeting ID 958-527467.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/23/2021 and updated at 4:08 PM to clarify Item 6A on SJRA Agenda

1274 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Construction of Northeast Water Purification Plant in High Gear

During a flyover of the City of Houston’s Northeast Water Purification Plant Expansion project on 9/11/2020, I counted 13 construction cranes operating simultaneously on different parts of the site. The site stretches a full two miles from the start of the plant near the northeast corner of Beltway 8 to the tip of the water intake platform in Lake Houston. Here are photos that show the scope of this massive construction project.

The water intake platform stretches approximately 1100 feet out into Lake Houston.
The 108-inch intake pipes are larger than some pieces of construction equipment.
Looking NE toward Lake Houston along the path that the intake pipes will take through Summerwood.
Looking west toward the main treatment plant, with Beltway 8 in the background. Construction began in 2018.
Looking SW across the eastern portion of the new plant.
Looking SW across the western portion. The site is divided into about 10 sections each as large or larger than a city block.
A close up of construction activity in just one of the sections.
Looking straight east back toward Lake Houston from the western edge of the plant. Note the current water treatment plant in the foreground. It produces about 80 million gallons per day of fresh water.
Looking north over the center of the site.
Looking WNW. Note the NE corner of Beltway 8 in the top left. The plant expansion will provide another 320 million gallons per day.
For scale, note the size of the man on the scissor-lift in the red circle.

The plant expansion will supply 320 million gallons per day of treated water capacity in addition to the current 80 million gallons per day. So capacity will quintuple by completion in 2024.

Converting Area to Surface Water to Reduce Subsidence

The expansion of capacity will allow more water systems in the region to convert from groundwater to surface water. That should reduce subsidence and help avoid flooding.

Improved Techniques

According to the City, “The expansion will include conventional treatment processes like the existing plant that help coagulate, settle, filter, and then disinfect water.” Quality will exceed requirements set forth by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

In addition, says the City, an advanced oxidation process called ozonation will disinfect water to help ensure that harmful organisms such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium are eliminated. Ozonation also helps eliminate taste and odor causing compounds, which improves the aesthetic quality of the water supplied by the plant.

Receive Updates

This construction update by the City of Houston shows additional ground-level and drone photos of the construction. You can sign up to receive future updates here.

Contractor Portal

Here is the main procurement portal for the project. Contractors looking for work on the site can sign up here.

Posted by Bob Rehak on September 17, 2020

1115 Days since Hurricane Harvey