Meeting Future Water Needs for Over 1.8 Million People Through 2040

The North Texas Municipal Water District serves 1.8 million residents in 10 counties northeast of Dallas. With the population projected to double over the next 50 years in this 2,200 square mile area, additional drinking water supply is needed alongside ongoing smart water management and conservation efforts. 

The $1.6 billion Bois d’Arc Lake program and several related components will provide a new connection and additional water supply to the district. The overall program is a massive undertaking, with design and construction taking place concurrently on multiple projects involving nine firms.

Scheduled for completion in 2022, the program is one of the largest construction projects and the first major reservoir to be permitted and built in Texas in nearly 30 years. The 16,641-acre lake — created by a 2-mile-long, 90-foot-tall dam — is expected to start supplying water to the district’s service area and eventually yield an average of 108 million gallons of water per day. The program includes design and construction of a raw water pipeline, water treatment plant and treated water pipeline. 

The TWPL is over 23 miles in length and was separated into two design sections, D and E. HDR provided design and construction services for Section E, which is a 9.5-mile, 84-inch steel pipeline. Detailed design began in early 2020, and construction is scheduled to be completed by January 2022. The pipeline crosses roadways, forested wetlands, a railway, existing utilities, creeks and a river. The design included over 4,400 linear feet of 108-inch tunnels with one tunnel over 2,500 feet in length.  

The TWPL connects to the district’s existing North McKinney Phase III Pipeline in McKinney, Texas. In 2017, we provided routing, environmental study, and design and construction phase services for the Phase III Pipeline, which is a 72-inch- and 84-inch-diameter pipeline approximately 6.5 miles in length. The Phase III pipeline extends NTMWD’s large-diameter transmission system, providing additional capacity to the east side of McKinney. In the future, NTMWD will connect to the end of the Phase III pipeline and construct a 72-inch steel pipeline approximately 8 miles in length on the north side of McKinney to complete the large-diameter transmission loop.  

We are providing design services for the 8-mile large-diameter transmission pipeline known as the McKinney Delivery Point No. 3 to McKinney Delivery Point No. 4 Pipeline Project. This project is currently in the 30% design stage with construction scheduled to begin in 2023 when the TWPL is operational.