PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — The city of Pflugerville on Thursday broke ground on an expensive project that will ensure the city can sustain growth for years to come.
Over the next several years, crews will build the $247 million Wilbarger Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Right now, the city can only treat 7.24 million gallons of wastewater per day. This new facility, located on Gregg Lane, will nearly double that number to 13.25 million gallons per day.
U.S. Census data shows that in 2010, Pflugerville's population was 46,000 people. In 2020, it grew to more than 65,000. With that number expected to keep going up, city officials say expanded infrastructure is needed.
"We have this tremendous growth, along with Samsung coming in Taylor, Tesla in Austin. And right smack dab in the middle of them is the city of Pflugerville," Brandon Pritchett, Pflugerville's utility director, said at Thursday's groundbreaking. "And so we know that, you know, we're experiencing that same growth. And we know that those large centers of employment, those people need somewhere to live and they need somewhere where they can take a shower and they can flush the toilet. And it goes somewhere."
“I'm extremely excited about this project and our strategic funding strategies because it allows the City the ability to continue to support growth around the eastern areas of the City's ETJ,” Mayor Victor Gonzales said in a press release. “This project is the largest investment in a capital improvement project in the history of the City and meets the City's Strategic Goals of constructing and maintaining a robust and resilient infrastructure that is forward-looking to the future.”
This project has been in the works for a long time. In 2008, a master plan for the city mentioned the potential need for another wastewater treatment facility. In 2020, the Pflugerville City Council authorized planning and designing it.
The project is expected to be completed in 2027.