Comprehensive Master Plan - City of Alvin

Growth StrategiesWater Supply and Distribution ‐ The supply of water is a significant longtermissue for the community, which must be planned well in advance offuture needs. The City currently provides water service to users withinthe City limits, as well as a few users outside the City limits. The primarysource of potable water currently is from groundwater wells. There is nosurface water treated and supplied by the system. There are currentlystudies underway, and the City anticipates that a surface waterconversion will be required in the future.There are seasonal differences in water usage, increasing in the hotsummer months when lawn irrigation is necessary and outdoor wateramenities become more utilized, and decreasing during the rainy season.Alvin has reduced its “unaccounted for water”, to 10 percent, down fromalmost 24 percent nine years ago. Water that is unaccounted for is thedifference between the amount of water taken out of the wells and theamount accounted for through monitoring. Recent studies haverecommended that the City acquire at least two additional wells, andconstruct a new elevated storage tank and water plant with an additionalstorage tank. This will enable the City to meet its water demands ‐ fromthe customers it serves and is expected to grow to serve ‐ during the nextten years. There will also be a continuation of the water line replacementprogram within the City to improve water flows and improve fire flowcapabilities.Wastewater Collection and Treatment – Currently, all generatedmunicipal wastewater is collected and treated at the City’s singlewastewater treatment plant (WWTP), where the effluent is then releasedinto Mustang Bayou. Recommendations from a recently completed studyindicate that the current plant would not be expected to reach its 75percent average flow rates (the percentage at which an additional plantwould be required) until the Year 2013. The average operating volume ofthe treated wastewater is slightly more than 2.5 million gallons per day(MGD), which is 50 percent of the 5 MGD design capacity of the WWTP.The peak flow may fluctuate upwards during heavy storm events –caused largely by inflow and infiltration of stormwater into the sanitarysewer system but the system has not exceeded 75 percent of plantcapacity to date.Page 5-9