Gulf Coast Water Authority History Book by Gulf Coast Water Authority

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY A History of Reliable Water Delivery

ISBN: 978-1-68184-312-4

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Reliably delivering water to industrial, municipal, and agricultural customers in Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Galveston Counties

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY

A History of Reliable Water Delivery

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY

A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Cover: GCWA’s Texas City Reservoir. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography) Previous pages: GCWA’s Briscoe Pumping Plant draws water from the Brazos River into the authority’s canal system. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

All photos are from the Gulf Coast Water Authority archives unless noted otherwise. Copyright © 2021 by Gulf Coast Water Authority All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work in any form whatsoever without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief passages in connection with a review. For information, please write:

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Langford, Ivan, III, author. | Thomas, Kathy, (Journalist), author. Title: Gulf Coast Water Authority : a history of reliable water delivery / Ivan Langford III, Kathy Thomas. Description: Brookfield, MO : The Donning Company Publishers, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Established by the Texas legislature in 1965 as a wholesale water utility to meet the region’s water needs, Gulf Coast Water Authority’s extensive water delivery system is quilted together from private systems largely developed in the early to mid-1900s. GCWA has grown and evolved to meet the needs of the communities and businesses in their service area-Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Galveston Counties”— Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2021038145 | ISBN 9781681843124 (paperback) Subjects: LCSH: Gulf Coast Water Authority—History. | Water utilities—Texas—Gulf Coast. | Gulf Coast (Tex.)—Water-supply. Classification: LCC HD4464.T4 L34 2021 | DDC 363.6/10976413—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021038145 Printed in the United States of America at Walsworth

CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905 How Did the Pumping Plants Get Their Names?

The Donning Company Publishers 731 South Brunswick Street Brookfield, MO 64628

Jim Railey, Project Director

INTRODUCTION: Evolving to Meet the Ever-Changing Needs of Its Customers Major Milestones

Lex Cavanah, General Manager Nathan Stufflebean, Production Supervisor Anne Burns, Editor Stephanie L. Danko, Graphic Designer Kathy Snowden, Account Specialist Katie Gardner, Marketing and Project Coordinator

PREFACE by Brandon Wade, General Manager and CEO, Gulf Coast Water Authority

David Sauer: Rising from Dragline Oiler to Assistant General Manager Sustainable Rice Farming with GCWA Water Meters 26

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries GCWA’s Industrial Customers, 2021 Joseph A. Willhelm Led, Shaped GCWA for Three Decades

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities Dr. Thomas Mackey, PE—Civic Leader, Visionary Nancy Matthews: Opportunities to Grow in a Decades-Long Career GCWA’s Municipal Customers, 2021 How GCWA Makes Drinking Water

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

BIBLIOGRAPHY

61 64

INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHORS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905 How Did the Pumping Plants Get Their Names?

The Donning Company Publishers 731 South Brunswick Street Brookfield, MO 64628

Jim Railey, Project Director

INTRODUCTION: Evolving to Meet the Ever-Changing Needs of Its Customers Major Milestones

PREFACE by Brandon Wade, General Manager and CEO, Gulf Coast Water Authority

David Sauer: Rising from Dragline Oiler to Assistant General Manager Sustainable Rice Farming with GCWA Water Meters 26

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries GCWA’s Industrial Customers, 2021 Joseph A. Willhelm Led, Shaped GCWA for Three Decades

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

BIBLIOGRAPHY

61 64

INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHORS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Evolving to Meet the Ever-Changing Needs of its Customers

N MANY WAYS, the history of the Gulf Coast Water Authority (GCWA) and its legacy entities is the history of this Texas coastal region. More than a century ago, what was largely farmland has grown to include dynamic communities, major refining and petrochemical production hubs, and family-owned farms that feed America.

Established by the Texas legislature in 1965 as a wholesale water utility to meet the region’s water needs, GCWA’s extensive water delivery system is quilted together from legacy private systems largely developed in the early to mid-1900s. Beginning with these legacy entities, GCWA has grown and evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of the communities and businesses in our service area—Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Galveston Counties.

GCWA delivers up to two hundred million gallons of water each day from the Brazos River Basin, its primary water source, to wholesale customers across Brazoria, Galveston, and Fort Bend Counties.

ATER IS ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE, economic growth, and national security. That’s why the Gulf Coast Water Authority (GCWA) actively pursues its mission to reliably provide vital water services to communities, businesses, farmers, and refining and petrochemical industries in its threecounty, 1.5 million-population service area. GCWA delivers up to two hundred million gallons of water each day from the Brazos River Basin, its primary water source, to wholesale customers across Brazoria, Galveston, and Fort Bend Counties. Since established as a wholesale water utility by the Texas legislature in 1965, GCWA has continued to grow to meet the ever-changing needs of the communities and the businesses it serves.

I hope you enjoy this fascinating history of GCWA and its legacy entities, as well as the milestone events that have shaped the water authority. This book also spotlights some of the visionary leaders whose foresight has enabled GCWA to meet our region’s changing needs and the dedicated people who have worked tirelessly to fulfill GCWA’s mission: to reliably deliver water to our customers. BRANDON WADE General Manager and CEO Gulf Coast Water Authority

GCWA’s 276-mile canal system carries water, primarily from the Brazos River, across Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Galveston Counties. Top right: Since established as a wholesale water utility by the Texas legislature in 1965, GCWA has continued to grow to meet the ever-changing needs of the communities and businesses it serves.

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Evolving to Meet the Ever-Changing Needs of its Customers

GCWA delivers up to two hundred million gallons of water each day from the Brazos River Basin, its primary water source, to wholesale customers across Brazoria, Galveston, and Fort Bend Counties.

Pictured is the Briscoe Pumping Plant, which draws water from the Brazos into the GCWA canal system. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography) Inset: Maintaining GCWA’s assets, like this pump at the Briscoe Pumping Plant, requires expertise and constant attention.

MOVING WATER FOR MILES

GCWA maintains an extensive water delivery system that carries raw water from the Brazos River and Chocolate, Mustang, and Halls Bayous through 276 miles of canals and fifty-four miles of pipelines directly to wholesale customers and a water treatment plant. The Canal Division’s history begins in 1905 with the construction of the American Canal System, used to transport water from the Brazos River to rice and sugar cane farms in Fort Bend County. Today, the authority owns three legacy canal systems that carry water primarily from the Brazos River to its customers across three Texas coastal counties and its water treatment plant. With the purchase of these canals came senior water rights, allowing GCWA to draw 380,000 acre-feet of water from the Brazos River and 57,500 acre-feet from Chocolate Bayou and Halls Bayou annually—equivalent to approximately 142 billion gallons a year.

Pictured are Galveston County Water Company employees overlooking Texas City reservoir operations in 1954. A predecessor to the GCWA, the non-profit company originally built the reservoir to provide surface water to Texas City industries. Top left: Construction workers are dwarfed by the scale of this concrete box column being built in the 1960s at the Shannon Pumping Plant to house a vertical lift pump. Top right: In 1947, a non-profit water company formed by Texas City industries built a delivery system to provide surface water from the Brazos River to the Texas City industrial complex. Work included extending the American Canal System across Galveston County and building a 7,900-acre-foot reservoir, pumping plant, and pipeline system in Texas City. Pictured is work in 1948 to install a forty-two-inch-diameter raw water line through the Carbide plant.

Continued on page 10

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Introduction

MOVING WATER FOR MILES

Continued on page 10

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Introduction

The Canal Division continuously monitors and maintains six pumping plants, 276 miles of canals, and hundreds of canal crossings throughout its service area. The division also provides water to 17,300 acres of farmland, primarily rice fields in Brazoria and Galveston Counties.

SERVING ESSENTIAL INDUSTRIES

Concerns about land subsidence caused by groundwater extraction were the catalyst for creating legacy industrial water service entities beginning in the 1940s. GCWA’s Industrial Division evolved from a private entity, the Excelsior Corporation, created in 1946 by the industrial companies in Texas City. Originally relying on wells, the companies looked to deliver surface water to the growing industrial area. Today, GCWA’s industrial infrastructure includes an industrial pumping plant and pipeline system that provides water to major industries in the Texas City industrial complex. GCWA’s Joseph A. Willhelm Industrial Pumping Plant, completed in 2020, replaced a legacy plant constructed in 1949. The new plant expanded pumping capacity by almost 25 percent to ninety-five million gallons a day, ensuring long-term reliability and industrial growth. GCWA also provides water through its Canal Division to industries in Brazoria County, for a total of eight major industrial customers in its service area. GCWA’s Texas City and Brazoria County industrial customers produce gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels, as well as chemicals essential in manufacturing a wide variety of plastics, solvents, 10

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Manned around the clock, GCWA’s water treatment plant in Texas City produces tap water for almost two hundred thousand residents across Galveston County. (Photo: Artsea Productions)

coatings, brake fluid, pharmaceuticals, polymers, medicines, medical supplies, electronics, food-grade ingredients, apparel, car parts, and much more.

MEETING MUNICIPAL NEEDS

Concerns about subsidence also drove GCWA, civic leaders, and elected officials to look for ways to replace well water with surface water. Since buying the City of Texas City water treatment plant in 1981, GCWA has upgraded the plant and tripled production capacity to produce tap water for almost two hundred thousand residents across Galveston County today. In addition to providing wholesale treated water to thirteen communities in Galveston County, GCWA delivers raw water to five communities in Brazoria and Fort Bend Counties. With offices in Texas City and Alvin, GCWA is governed by a ten-member board of directors appointed by the Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Galveston County Commissioners Courts to represent industrial, municipal, and agricultural interests in its service area. Introduction

SERVING ESSENTIAL INDUSTRIES

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Manned around the clock, GCWA’s water treatment plant in Texas City produces tap water for almost two hundred thousand residents across Galveston County. (Photo: Artsea Productions)

coatings, brake fluid, pharmaceuticals, polymers, medicines, medical supplies, electronics, food-grade ingredients, apparel, car parts, and much more.

MEETING MUNICIPAL NEEDS

GCWA’S CANAL DIVISION Beginning in 1905

The beginnings of the GCWA can be traced to 1905 when private investors formed the Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company and built the Shannon Pumping Plant in 1908 to move water from the Brazos River for agricultural irrigation.

GCWA’S CANAL DIVISION Beginning in 1905

THE MIGHTY BRAZOS

In the early 1930s, canal system extensions, pump stations, and re-lift stations were added to the canal system, eventually running through Brazoria County and reaching into Galveston County in 1940—all for agricultural irrigation. Also, in the early 1940s, the privately held Briscoe Canal System and Briscoe Irrigation System, including a river pumping plant and a fifty-mile canal system, were built, primarily for rice irrigation from eastern Fort Bend County, through Brazoria County, and into western Galveston County.

HE BRAZOS RIVER, called the Río de los Brazos de Dios (translated as “The River of the Arms of God”) by early Spanish explorers, is the eleventh-longest river in the United States. It begins in New Mexico and runs 1,280 miles south through the heart of Texas to Brazoria County, where it pours into the Gulf of Mexico. The Brazos River watershed covers forty-six thousand square miles and includes forty-two lakes, man-made reservoirs, and rivers with a combined storage capacity of 2.5 million acrefeet. By the time it reaches the Gulf of Mexico, the Brazos River Basin has provided billions of gallons of water annually for communities, agriculture, industry, and mining. It is the primary water source for the Gulf Coast Water Authority (GCWA) and its industrial, municipal, and agricultural customers. The Brazos plays a starring role in Texas history. Founding father Stephen F. Austin explored the river in 1821 when it was still under Mexican rule and established the first Anglo-American settlement in the region. Cotton and cattle were major sources of wealth for Texans within the fertile Brazos River Basin as the area was settled in the 1800s. Through the centuries, the river’s extremes, from damaging floods to drought-induced dry riverbeds, have challenged Texans who draw their water and livelihoods from the Brazos.

CANAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE 1900S

The beginnings of the GCWA can be traced to 1905 when private investors formed the Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company, which built the American Canal System to provide irrigation for agriculture in Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties. In 1908, the company built a pumping plant, now known as the Shannon Pumping Plant, just south of Fulshear in Fort Bend County to move water into their American Canal System. The Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company was sold to the Brazos Valley Irrigation Company in 1926, to the American Canal Company in 1940, and to the American Canal Company of Texas in 1959. 14

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

EXTENDING CANALS TO TEXAS CITY INDUSTRY

In 1947, Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation and Pan American Petroleum & Transport Co., along with the Galveston Chamber of Commerce, retained the services of New York City engineering firm Ford, Bacon & Davis to look for solutions to subsidence issues caused by pumping groundwater. The report concluded that the only viable alternative was to move to a surface water source and identified the Brazos River as the best solution.

In 1948, the American Canal System was extended to Galveston County to provide surface water to Texas City industries.

An extension to the American Canal System across Galveston County and construction of a reservoir in Texas City would meet the requirements of both Texas City industry and the City of Galveston, the report concluded. The engineering firm further recommended the creation of a non-profit water company to meet present and future water needs. Later that year, Texas City industries created a private company, the Industrial Water Company, to extend the surface water canal system being used for agricultural irrigation in Fort Bend, Brazoria, and western Galveston Counties.

The Brazos River Basin, which has provided billions of gallons of water for Texas communities, agriculture, industry, and mining, is the primary water source for GCWA. In addition to run-of-river water, GCWA contracts with the Brazos River Authority to access stored water in reservoirs, if needed. GCWA also purchases water from NRG and the City of Rosenberg.

CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

THE MIGHTY BRAZOS

CANAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE 1900S

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

EXTENDING CANALS TO TEXAS CITY INDUSTRY

In 1948, the American Canal System was extended to Galveston County to provide surface water to Texas City industries.

CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

Pictured is an example of a major flume construction project in 1968 on a man-made canal between the Shannon Pumping Plant and Jones Creek. Flumes are used to measure water on canals.

Top left: Canal Manager Gene Shannon pictured in the mid-1970s inspecting the flume system built on the Briscoe Canal over Oyster Creek. Top right: This large concrete structure was built in 1978 along Cemetery Road in Santa Fe, Texas, as part of the Galveston canal system. Left: Pictured are Canal Division maintenance workers in the 1970s removing an impeller from one of the huge pumps at the Briscoe Pumping Plant on the Brazos River. Pictured from left are Joe Quinn, James Triplett, and David Sauer.

BRAZOS RIVER AUTHORITY, 1966–1988

The Brazos River Authority (BRA) bought the American and Briscoe Canal Systems, along with valuable state-issued senior Brazos River water rights, in 1966 and 1967, respectively. The BRA continued to operate as a wholesale water supplier and maintain the canal system from its office in Alvin. The Texas legislature created the BRA in 1929 as the first government entity in the United States specifically for developing and managing the water resources of an entire river basin. Today, the BRA develops and distributes water supplies, provides water and wastewater treatment, monitors water quality, and pursues water conservation through public education programs. It also operates stored water reservoirs along the Brazos River, from which GCWA and other contracted users request specified water releases when needed in times of drought.

GCWA PURCHASES CANAL SYSTEM

In 1988, GCWA purchased all assets of the American and Briscoe Canal Systems from the BRA, including 224,932 acre-feet of water rights on the Brazos River and twelve thousand acre-feet of water rights in Oyster Creek. Following this purchase, GCWA changed its name from Galveston County Water Authority to Gulf Coast Water Authority to more accurately reflect its broader service area. The purchase in 1988 was GCWA’s first purchase of water 16

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

rights, providing the authority a reliable supply of surface water for industrial, agricultural, and municipal customers in its three-county service area.

The Chocolate Bayou Pumping Plant, pictured here, was built in the mid-1900s on Chocolate Bayou in Brazoria County. In 2006, GCWA bought Chocolate Bayou Water Company assets, including its Chocolate Bayou and Juliff Canal Systems, state-issued junior and senior water rights, and the Juliff Canal System pumping plant, now named the May Pumping Plant.

In 2006, GCWA bought Chocolate Bayou Water Company assets, including its Chocolate Bayou and Juliff Canal Systems, state-issued senior water rights, and the Juliff Canal System pumping plant on the Brazos River in western Fort Bend County, as well as a pumping plant on Chocolate Bayou in Brazoria County. INEOS chemical company and the cities of Galveston, Texas City, and Pearland participated in the purchase. The Juliff Pump Station, now known as the William May Pumping Plant, and Canal System were built in 1934 by the South Texas Water Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Crude Oil Company. Later, the system was sold to the Chocolate Bayou Water Company, a subsidiary of International Paper Company. CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

Pictured is an example of a major flume construction project in 1968 on a man-made canal between the Shannon Pumping Plant and Jones Creek. Flumes are used to measure water on canals.

BRAZOS RIVER AUTHORITY, 1966–1988

GCWA PURCHASES CANAL SYSTEM

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

rights, providing the authority a reliable supply of surface water for industrial, agricultural, and municipal customers in its three-county service area.

Left: Based in Alvin, the Canal Division maintains 552 miles of canal levees, six pumping plants, and hundreds of canal crossings that include bridges and underdrain piping. The Juliff Pump Station (now known as the William May Pumping Plant) and Canal System were built in 1934 by the South Texas Water Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Crude Oil Company.

Below: Canal crews backfill around pipe during a major pipe replacement on the B Canal in the 1990s.

GCWA’S CANAL OPERATIONS

Today, GCWA maintains a 276-mile-long canal system that runs from northwestern Fort Bend County to Texas City in Galveston County and deep into Brazoria County. With operations based in Alvin, the Canal Division maintains 552 miles of canal levees, six pumping plants, and hundreds of canal crossings that include bridges and underdrain piping. The system requires continuous routine maintenance, including canal dredging, earthwork to shore up canal banks, and mowing. One of GCWA’s most significant projects in recent years was building a new Chocolate Bayou Pumping Plant in Brazoria County to replace a facility built in the mid-1900s. The $8.7 million pumping plant offers greater capacity and long-term reliability. Continued on page 23

Left: Officials touring a canal project in 1988 included, upper far left, Canal Division Manager Gene Shannon in the white shirt and GCWA Board President Thomas Mackey. Middle: Canal crews replaced failed pipes under Skinner Road in Fort Bend County in the 1980s. This structure, also known as Old Second Lift, moves water from Jones Creek into Oyster Creek through controlled gates. The Canal Division maintains hundreds of canal crossings, including underdrains and bridges. Right: Canal workers clear a willow tree that has fallen into a canal in the 1980s. Clearing debris remains a daily task for canal crews who maintain 276 miles of canals. Pictured from left are Monte Baldwin, pumping plant operator, and Art Hoff, heavy equipment operator.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

The canal system requires continuous routine maintenance, including canal dredging, earthwork to shore up canal banks, and mowing.

CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

Below: Canal crews backfill around pipe during a major pipe replacement on the B Canal in the 1990s.

GCWA’S CANAL OPERATIONS

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

The canal system requires continuous routine maintenance, including canal dredging, earthwork to shore up canal banks, and mowing.

CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

HOW DID THE PUMPING PLANTS GET THEIR NAMES? GCWA’S THREE POWERFUL PUMPING PLANTS are named to honor men who played important roles in the Canal Division’s history. Powered by pumps as big as a car, the plants draw water from the Brazos River into GCWA’s canal system.

Shannon had vision and knew what it took to operate and maintain all components of a canal system, from designing, building, and operating pumping plants to building bridges and operating heavy equipment. He did it all. One of his most significant challenges was designing, constructing, and installing an enormous natural gas engine driving a one hundred thousand-gallon-per-minute pump at the original 1908 pumping plant. This project included a massive tunnel system from the riverbed to the building where the pump was located to get the water from the river to the pump.

R. T. “BOB” BRISCOE

In the early 1940s, private investor Bob Briscoe began the Briscoe Canal System and the Briscoe Irrigation System, which built the pumping plant also bearing his name in Fort Bend County. The plant was officially named the Briscoe Pumping Plant in 1992.

WILLIAM JOSEPH MAY

The May Pumping Plant recognizes William Joseph May’s remarkable sixty-seven-year career at the plant that bears his name. After serving in the US Navy during World War II, May began operating what was known as the Juliff Pumping Plant in 1945, just eleven years after it was built in southern Fort Bend County.

The canal system expanded to become one of two major water supply systems for agriculture and industry in the Lower Brazos River Basin. The fifty-mile canal system and the valuable water rights contributed to Briscoe’s vast business and farm holdings, making him one of the most powerful men in the state.

In 1954, the plant was operated around the clock by three employees living on-site, each working eight-hour shifts. With the addition of a second pumping plant on the river in the mid-1970s, staffing was reduced at the Juliff plant, and May assumed sole responsibility for the facility. During his tenure, May saw dramatic fluctuations in the river flow, including the record-setting drought in the 1950s and the highest recorded flood stage of the twentieth century in 1957. May recalled, “In 1952-56 we had a bad drought. We had to buy water from Possum Kingdom Lake all the way in North Texas. Trees and crops were dying, and I could walk across the Brazos riverbed. I could only stand around and wait for a flood, which happened in ’57.”

William Joseph May worked for sixty-seven years at the pumping plant that bears his name. May began operating what was known originally as the Juliff Pumping Plant in 1945, just eleven years after it was built in southern Fort Bend County.

Of May’s many challenges operating the pumping station through nearly seven decades, he is remembered most for his valiant and successful effort to protect the pumping plant during Hurricane Ike. He “rode out” the storm inside the pumping plant, moving full sheets of plywood against windows as the high winds blew out the glass. On August 29, 2012, GCWA named the plant in honor of May’s long-term service, dedication, and loyalty.

DARRELL E. SHANNON

The Shannon Pumping Plant, built in 1908 in Fort Bend County, three miles south of Fulshear, is named for Darrell E. Shannon, who worked on the canal system when the American Canal Company owned it and later for the Brazos River Authority as assistant canal manager. The plant was dedicated in his honor in 1976. 20

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Left: Canal crews install a new flap gate at Briscoe Pumping Plant in the 1980s. Flap gates prevent water backflowing from the canal into the pumping plant. GCWA’s pumping plants draw water from the Brazos River and move it into its canal system. Pictured from left are Canal Maintenance Superintendent Joe Quinn and Monte Baldwin, pumping plant operator. Right: Huge pipes that transport water in portions of the canal system sometimes need repair or replacement. Pictured is worker Ed Robbins blowing gunite onto interior pipe walls as part of major pipe refurbishment work done in 1993. CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

R. T. “BOB” BRISCOE

WILLIAM JOSEPH MAY

DARRELL E. SHANNON

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

DAVID SAUER

Rising from Dragline Oiler to Assistant General Manager DAVID SAUER’S RISE from the lowest-level job in the Canal Division to being responsible for almost all of GCWA’s assets is a testament to his hard work and the mentors who helped develop him to become the assistant general manager of GCWA. The Alvin native began his career in 1975 as an oiler for canal dragline equipment, the lowest, dirtiest job there was. He advanced to canal rider, driving along hundreds of miles of Assistant General Manager David Sauer is canals to inspect the waterways and turn on valves to irrigate pictured at a map of the GCWA canal system. approximately forty thousand acres of rice fields for the farmers who bought water for irrigation purposes. At the time, Brazos River Authority (BRA) owned the canals. “When I had proven myself, canal superintendents Joe Quinn and Huey Raney took me under their wings and mentored me. They taught me everything they knew about the history of the canals and pumping plants, the pumps and canal maintenance, including building bridges,” Sauer said. Shortly after, Sauer began managing crews to build bridges, put in underdrains, and other major canal maintenance projects.

MANAGING THE RIVER

A few years after GCWA bought the canal assets and associated water rights from the BRA in 1988, Sauer continued with GCWA and was promoted to canal manager, responsible for the entire canal delivery system. By the early 2000s, his responsibilities grew to include the entire water delivery system, except for the water treatment plant in Texas City. In 2011, he served as interim general manager for almost a year. After this term, Sauer was appointed assistant general manager by the GCWA Board of Directors. Through the years, Sauer has mentored his employees, helping them to develop their skills and take new responsibilities, just as his mentors helped him early in his career. As assistant general manager, Sauer wears many hats, including water management. It is a twenty-four/ seven job, requiring Sauer to continuously monitor weather and water levels to ensure enough water flows down the Brazos River to meet GCWA customer needs. When needed, he requests that the BRA release GCWA-contracted stored water from reservoirs. “I’ve done it for so long that it’s second nature to me,” Sauer said. GCWA has retained an engineering firm to document the river management plan that is mostly in Sauer’s head “so when I’m ready to retire, I can,” he said with a smile.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Top: Work began in 2020 to replace the Chocolate Bayou Pumping Plant, originally built in the mid-1900s in Brazoria County. The $8.7 million pumping plant offers greater capacity and long-term reliability. Above: The Chocolate Bayou Pumping Plant was demolished in 2019 to make way for construction of a new pumping plant.

In addition to maintaining a century-old canal system, GCWA staff must continuously monitor water volumes in the Brazos River with a system of river monitoring gauges to ensure a reliable supply of up to two hundred million gallons of water a day to its customers, despite the river’s weather-induced highs and lows. GCWA is one of more than one thousand water right holders on the river. With the most senior water rights in the Lower Brazos River Basin, GCWA is entitled to draw up to 142 billion gallons a year. When river levels drop too low due to drought, GCWA can draw on its contracted reserves in reservoirs maintained by the BRA. When GCWA calls for a water release, it can take several days for the water to reach GCWA’s canals, depending on the location of the releasing reservoir. Since 2014, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Brazos Watermaster Program has administered water rights in the Brazos River Basin downstream of, and including, Possum Kingdom Lake. The TCEQ watermaster and water right holders communicate regularly to coordinate water availability and use, particularly in times of drought. CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

DAVID SAUER

MANAGING THE RIVER

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

SUSTAINABLE RICE FARMING

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

As GCWA works today to reliably deliver water to its customers, long-range planning is taking place to ensure the ability of GCWA to meet demand for decades to come. By evaluating current customer usage and analyzing population and growth projections, GCWA is developing water resource and infrastructure plans in coordination with its customers to meet future needs. Guided by its comprehensive strategy, GCWA prioritizes major capital projects to replace aging infrastructure to ensure reliability while minimizing customer rate impacts. To meet future demand in its three-county service area, GCWA is looking to diversify its water resources beyond the Brazos River Basin. New water resources could include improved use of reclaimed water, acquisition of deep-water aquifer wells, and longer-term initiatives such as desalination.

with GCWA Water Meters

GCWA maintenance crews maintain hundreds of crossings, both over and under the authority’s 276-milelong canal system.

Canal rider Ethan Cross checks one of the 160 meters installed by GCWA at rice farms in Brazoria and Galveston Counties to measure and report water volumes to accurately record each participating farm’s use. (Photo: Artsea Productions)

THE GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY partners with farmers in Brazoria and Galveston Counties to conserve water with an innovative metering and conservation incentives program funded in part with a grant from the Texas Water Development Board. GCWA provides water for approximately seventeen thousand acres of farmland in its service area. GCWA has installed 160 meters to measure and report water volumes to accurately record each participating farm’s use. Farmers also have access to the data to monitor their water usage over time and make better-informed decisions. The program saved 33.7 billion gallons of water between 2016 and 2019. One longtime rice farmer has a 2,400-acre farm in Brazoria County that was one of the original test farms for the program. He sees real benefits from using the meters. “It’s good to get a quantitative number on water usage. Before, we had to eyeball it when irrigating a field. It would be a judgment call on whether we had irrigated enough.”

The Briscoe Pumping Plant, originally put in service in 1941, continues to be maintained in the 2020s to reliably deliver water to GCWA customers.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

SUSTAINABLE RICE FARMING

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

with GCWA Water Meters

GCWA maintenance crews maintain hundreds of crossings, both over and under the authority’s 276-milelong canal system.

The Briscoe Pumping Plant, originally put in service in 1941, continues to be maintained in the 2020s to reliably deliver water to GCWA customers.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER ONE: GCWA’s Canal Division Beginning in 1905

INDUSTRIAL DIVISION

Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

The Texas City industrial complex, which had a gross economic input of $42 billion in 2019, relies on GCWA water for power generation, cooling, and other operations. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography)

INDUSTRIAL DIVISION

Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

The Texas City industrial complex, which had a gross economic input of $42 billion in 2019, relies on GCWA water for power generation, cooling, and other operations. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography)

Pictured is the 1948 construction of the new G Canal to deliver surface water of the 900-acre Texas City Reservoir to serve Texas City industries.

UST AS LEGACY CANAL COMPANIES built Gulf Coast Water Authority’s extensive canal system to serve agriculture, Texas City industries built infrastructure in the 1940s to deliver surface water to the city’s growing refining and petrochemical complex. Faced with ground subsidence problems caused by pumping well water to meet the area’s water needs, the Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation and Pan American Petroleum & Transport Co., along with the Galveston Chamber of Commerce, retained the services of New York City engineering firm Ford, Bacon & Davis in 1947 to study the problem and find a solution. Texas City industry leaders immediately put the report’s recommendations into action. They established a non-profit company to build infrastructure to deliver water from the Brazos River to Texas City’s growing industrial complex. The water delivery system included extending the American Canal System across Galveston County and building a 900-acre reservoir, a pumping plant, and a large-diameter water line system to Texas City Left: In 1949, the Galveston County Water Company celebrated the opening of the 7,900-acre-foot Texas City Reservoir to provide water to Texas City industries. Right: An aerial view of the newly completed Texas City Reservoir in 1950.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Crews built a six-footdiameter pipeline system under Highway 3 in Galveston County during Canal G construction in 1948. Funded by Texas City industries, the water delivery system project included extending the American Canal System across Galveston County.

industries. The initial phase was completed by the early 1950s, but water line extensions continued into the early 1970s. This same company, first known as the Excelsior Corporation, then the Galveston County Water Company, and finally as the Industrial Water Company, initially purchased water from the American Canal Company in 1948 and from the Briscoe Irrigation Company in 1966.

GCWA ACQUIRES INDUSTRIAL ASSETS

Just a few years after GCWA was established by the Texas legislature in 1965 at the request of the Industrial Water Company, the authority acquired the company’s assets for $8.6 million in 1971. GCWA then contracted with AMC Services (American, Monsanto, & Carbide) to provide management services to the authority to operate the Texas City industrial reservoir, industrial pumping plant, and industrial distribution system. CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

Pictured is the 1948 construction of the new G Canal to deliver surface water of the 900-acre Texas City Reservoir to serve Texas City industries.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

GCWA ACQUIRES INDUSTRIAL ASSETS

SERVING INDUSTRY IN BRAZORIA COUNTY

GCWA’S INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS 2021

GCWA’s history of serving industry in Brazoria County began in 1961 when Monsanto Chocolate Bayou (now Ascend Performance Materials) began buying water from the Briscoe Irrigation Company, later acquired by the BRA in 1967. When GCWA purchased these assets from BRA in 1988, GCWA became the water supplier for Monsanto.

Ascend Performance Materials, Chocolate Bayou Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Texas City Dow Chemical Company, Texas City Eastman Chemical, Texas City INEOS, Chocolate Bayou Marathon Petroleum Galveston Bay Refinery, Texas City Underground Storage LLC, Houston Valero Refining, Texas City

In 2006, INEOS, a petrochemical plant near Chocolate Bayou, joined with GCWA and the cities of Galveston, Texas City, and Pearland to buy additional assets from the Chocolate Bayou Water Company, a subsidiary of International Paper Company. The $27 million sale included the Juliff and Chocolate Bayou canal systems, a pumping plant on each of the systems, and state-issued senior water rights.

JUST ADD WATER

Water is essential for GCWA’s industrial customers who use water for power generation, cooling, and other operations. In 2020, GCWA provided about 130 million gallons of water a day to its refining and petrochemical customers in Texas City and Brazoria County.

In 2020, GCWA provided about 130 million gallons of water a day to its refining and petrochemical customers in Texas City and Brazoria County.

GCWA’s Texas City and Brazoria County industrial customers produce gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels, as well as chemicals essential in manufacturing a wide variety of plastics, solvents, coatings, brake fluid, pharmaceuticals, polymers, medicines, medical supplies, electronics, food-grade ingredients, apparel, car parts, and much more. Texas City’s refining and petrochemical industry is an enormous economic engine. According to a report by the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the industry generated the following in 2019:

5,556 jobs, $1.3 billion in salaries and compensation, $42 billion in gross economic output, and $156 million in taxes.

Texas City’s industrial base has grown dramatically and evolved since the first oil refinery, the Texas City Refining Company, was chartered in 1908. Industries were drawn to the city with its infrastructure and natural assets, including the Port of Texas City, rail service, waterfront land on Galveston Bay, and easy access to the Intercoastal Waterway and the Gulf of Mexico. And, of course, there’s the reliable supply of surface water from GCWA. Continued on page 34

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

SERVING INDUSTRY IN BRAZORIA COUNTY

GCWA’S INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS 2021

JUST ADD WATER

In 2020, GCWA provided about 130 million gallons of water a day to its refining and petrochemical customers in Texas City and Brazoria County.

5,556 jobs, $1.3 billion in salaries and compensation, $42 billion in gross economic output, and $156 million in taxes.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

GCWA’s Joseph A. Willhelm Industrial Pumping Plant has a daily capacity of ninety-five million gallons.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

GCWA’s Joseph A. Willhelm Industrial Pumping Plant has a daily capacity of ninety-five million gallons.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE To ensure a reliable supply of water for Texas City industry well into the future, the GCWA built a $19 million industrial pumping plant in 2020 to replace the original pumping plant built by the non-profit industrial water entity in 1949. The Joseph A. Willhelm Industrial Pumping Plant was named in honor of GCWA’s first general manager, who also worked as a manager of the private industrial water entity. The single largest capital investment by the water authority in decades, the new pumping plant expanded pumping capacity by almost 25 percent, ensuring long-term reliability and the capacity to accommodate industrial growth. Top: The completely automated Texas City Industrial Pumping Plant treated raw water with chlorine and could deliver thirty-eight million gallons of water a day to Texas City industries when it was built in 1949. Its maximum output would soon increase to fifty-two million gallons a day. Inset: A temporary pump station was built in 1949 to deliver water to Texas City industries pictured in the background.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Top: GCWA demolished the original 1949 Texas City Industrial Pumping Plant in 2020 to make way for the new plant. Above: To ensure a reliable supply of water for Texas City industry well into the future, the GCWA built a $19 million industrial pumping plant in 2020 to replace the original pumping plant built by the non-profit industrial water entity in 1949.

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

JOSEPH A. WILLHELM

Led, Shaped GCWA for Three Decades

WHEN JOSEPH “JOE” ARTHUR WILLHELM became the Gulf Coast Water Authority’s first general manager in 1965, he already had experience managing GCWA’s legacy industrial entity, the Industrial Water Company, formed in the 1940s to provide water to Texas City refining and petrochemical industries. Willhelm led the authority from its establishment by the Texas legislature until his retirement in 1995. During his tenure, GCWA considerably expanded its services and footprint. In 1971, Willhelm led acquisition of Industrial Division assets that serve the Texas City industrial complex, including the original industrial pumping plant built in 1949, the nine hundred-acre Texas City Reservoir, and the canal and pipeline delivery systems. In 1981, GCWA went into the potable water business with purchase of the Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant from the City of Texas City. Today, the expanded plant has a capacity to provide fifty-seven million gallons daily to more than a dozen municipalities and water districts throughout Galveston County. Today, GCWA enjoys perpetual senior water rights from its primary water source, the Brazos River, because Willhelm led the purchase of Brazos River Authority water rights and Canal Division assets in 1988. This allowed GCWA to further expand its services to customers in all three counties and to acquire a second office in Alvin, which is home to the GCWA Canal Division.

THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB

Willhelm’s industrial and agricultural background made him a natural fit to lead the authority. The Galveston native graduated from Ball High School, served two years in the US Army, and earned two degrees from Texas A&M University, graduating in 1955. After working at Caterpillar Tractor Company in Illinois, Willhelm, his wife Elizabeth, and their children moved back to Texas City when he took a job with Union Carbide in the Maintenance Department. His responsibilities expanded to include part-time manager of the Industrial Water Company, a private entity created by Texas City industry to bring surface water to the Texas City area. The water company built the water delivery infrastructure that would later become the GCWA Industrial Division. Of his three decades leading the GCWA, Willhelm said, “It was a good, fun job. I worked 12 hours a day and enjoyed every minute of it.” In December 2020, GCWA dedicated its new industrial pumping plant to honor Joseph A. Willhelm, GCWA’s first general manager, who served from 1964 until his retirement in 1995.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

GCWA honored Willhelm’s leadership and longtime service by dedicating its new $19 million industrial pumping plant in his honor in 2020.

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

JOSEPH A. WILLHELM

Led, Shaped GCWA for Three Decades

THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

GCWA honored Willhelm’s leadership and longtime service by dedicating its new $19 million industrial pumping plant in his honor in 2020.

CHAPTER TWO: Industrial Division Serves Critical Refining, Petrochemical Industries

MUNICIPAL DIVISION

Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

The Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant provides drinking water to thirteen communities with almost two hundred thousand residents in a growing Galveston County. Pictured is plant operator Terry Seeley in 2018. (Photo by Artsea Productions)

MUNICIPAL DIVISION

Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

DR. THOMAS MACKEY, PE

N A WORD, SUBSIDENCE IS WHY the Gulf Coast Water Authority provides water to communities in its service area. Before GCWA, many Gulf Coast communities and industries relied on groundwater wells for their water. In the early 1940s, growing demand caused water tables in the area to fall dramatically, resulting in significant land subsidence. This prompted industry leaders in Texas City and business leaders in Galveston to look for a solution.

Civic Leader, Visionary

DR. THOMAS S. MACKEY—engineer, metallurgist, attorney, and civic leader—is also described by some as a futurist. Through his forward-thinking leadership, the GCWA took a huge step into the municipal water supply business with the purchase of the City of Texas City’s water treatment plant in 1981.

In 1947, Texas City industries and the Galveston Chamber of Commerce hired an engineering firm that identified the Brazos River as a viable, long-term source of surface water. The engineers recommended extending the American Canal System, originally built in the early 1900s for agricultural irrigation in Brazoria, Fort Bend, and western Galveston Counties. They also suggested building a reservoir in Texas City and establishing a non-profit water company. Later that year, Texas City industries established the privately held Industrial Water Company to extend the canal system to provide surface water to the growing Texas City refining and petrochemical industrial complex.

Mackey, who served on the GCWA board from 1971 until 1993, recognized that land subsidence was adversely affecting every community in Galveston County. He believed it was the authority’s responsibility to step up to become the regional drinking water supplier, providing a reliable source of groundwater and alleviating the reliance on wells.

In 1961, Judge Charles B. Smith made it one of his priorities as newly elected president of the Galveston Chamber of Commerce to acquire a long-term surface water supply for the island. Galveston leaders joined with industrial leaders in 1965 to ask Texas Senator A. R. “Babe” Schwartz to sponsor legislation establishing the Galveston County Water Authority (GCWA), a wholesale water provider for industry and communities. The authority was managed by a board of seven directors appointed by the Galveston County Commissioners Court. Judge Smith was appointed to the board in 1969 and served as president for ten years.

As board president in 1980, he led efforts to evaluate the feasibility of purchasing the eighteen million-gallon-a-day (MGD) water treatment plant. A year later, the authority acquired the plant, eventually expanding its capacity to 57 MGD to serve almost every community in Galveston County.

Dr. Thomas Mackey, who served on the GCWA board from 1971 until 1993, spearheaded the authority’s move to acquire the Texas City water treatment plant.

Mackey also was instrumental in the authority’s purchase of the American and Briscoe canal systems from the Brazos River Authority in 1988. Included in that purchase was what has turned out to be the authority’s most valuable asset—380,000 acre-feet annually of senior water rights on the Brazos River. Mackey’s foresight proved to be the single most important factor in ensuring the authority was able to continuously deliver Brazos River water to its municipal and industrial customers.

Continued on page 42

The water treatment plant was named in Mackey’s honor in 1994 but is not the only Texas City landmark to bear his name. Mackey donated land to expand a thirty-five-acre nature center at Bay Street Park. The Thomas Mackey Nature Center is a wildlife habitat with nature trails and observation points where visitors can view waterfowl, songbirds, wildlife, and native vegetation.

GCWA purchased the newly built water treatment plant in 1981 from the City of Texas City. (Photo by Artsea Productions)

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Mackey became involved in the community while working as general manager and chief engineer for a smelting and refining operation in Texas City from 1957 until 1969. He went on to hold other executive leadership positions in local industry, while contributing significantly to the community throughout his life.

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

DR. THOMAS MACKEY, PE

Civic Leader, Visionary

Dr. Thomas Mackey, who served on the GCWA board from 1971 until 1993, spearheaded the authority’s move to acquire the Texas City water treatment plant.

Continued on page 42

GCWA purchased the newly built water treatment plant in 1981 from the City of Texas City. (Photo by Artsea Productions)

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

NANCY MATTHEWS

In 1971, GCWA contracted with the City of Houston to deliver up to thirty million gallons of water a day (MGD) from Houston’s East Side surface water treatment plant to the city of Galveston (25 MGD) and the city of League City (5 MGD). GCWA issued bonds to build the pipeline network to interconnect the three water systems.

Opportunities to Grow in a Decades-Long Career FRESH OUT OF COLLEGE WITH A DEGREE IN BIOLOGY, La Marque native Nancy Matthews was hired by the City of Texas City as a lab technician and plant operator for the new municipal water treatment plant, still under construction in 1980. She never imagined her starter job would become a lifelong career in water with growing responsibilities and exciting challenges.

GOING INTO THE WATER TREATMENT BUSINESS

In 1981, GCWA purchased the City of Texas City’s newly built 18-MGD-capacity water treatment plant. At that time, the plant served the cities of Texas City and La Marque. Texas City businessman and GCWA Board President Dr. Thomas Mackey was instrumental in GCWA’s move into the drinking water business. In 1994, GCWA named the plant posthumously in Mackey’s honor. In 1983, GCWA extended its pipeline network northward to serve the Dickinson area through the Galveston County Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) #1, the San Leon Municipal Utility District (MUD), and Houston Lighting & Power’s H.P. Robinson Electrical Generating Plant, as well the Bayview and Bacliff MUDs. Soon thereafter, GCWA expanded the plant’s treatment capacity to 25 MGD. GCWA further extended its tap water delivery pipeline in 1991 along Highway 146 north to Kemah to serve Galveston County WCID #12. In that same year, the authority asked the Texas legislature to change its name to the Gulf Coast Water Authority to reflect its growing service area. Continued on page 46

In 1999, GCWA doubled the plant’s capacity to fifty million gallons a day and built a pipeline network southward to serve Galveston Island and westward along Highway 6. Pictured are GCWA board members at the groundbreaking for the pipeline built to serve Galveston.

Nancy Matthews has served in a number of roles at GCWA, most recently as project manager for Records Management and Land Management.

The GCWA project manager for Records Management and Land Management joined the water authority when it acquired the water treatment plant in 1981. While the plant was under construction, Matthews and her fellow operators were licensed through the Texas Engineering Extension Service and taught to operate the plant. They also visited the construction site regularly to see firsthand where water lines, valves, and other key components were located.

When the plant started up in early 1981, Matthews put her biology degree from the University of Houston to work, gathering water samples at five locations around the plant every two hours. In the lab, she would run the samples through more than ten different tests to confirm the water met federal standards. As GCWA grew and transitioned to new digital technologies, Matthews took on more responsibilities. In 2000, Matthews wore three hats, managing the water plant, information technology, and digitized records management. She was responsible for anything technical but also kept a pair of rubber boots in her car because she was involved in engineering, construction, and permitting. Matthews worked on several engineering projects to upgrade water treatment plant instrumentation and to ensure the lab met future regulatory requirements. She also co-authored several research papers published in industry publications. Looking back on her career, she said, “Working anywhere else, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I’ve had here. They recognized that I had capabilities and gave me the chance to grow.”

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Nancy Matthews is pictured in 2003 during her tenure as Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant manager. Matthews joined the water authority when it acquired the water treatment plant in 1981.

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

NANCY MATTHEWS

GOING INTO THE WATER TREATMENT BUSINESS

Nancy Matthews has served in a number of roles at GCWA, most recently as project manager for Records Management and Land Management.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Nancy Matthews is pictured in 2003 during her tenure as Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant manager. Matthews joined the water authority when it acquired the water treatment plant in 1981.

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

Located in Texas City, the water treatment plant has the daily capacity to convert fifty-seven million gallons of raw water into drinking water. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography)

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

Located in Texas City, the water treatment plant has the daily capacity to convert fifty-seven million gallons of raw water into drinking water. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography)

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

Top left: Using stateof-the-art technology, the water treatment plant’s lab tests the water to ensure state and federal water quality standards are met. Pictured is Senior Lab Chemist Devon North in 2018. (Photo by Artsea Productions) Top right: Operator John Lewis records results of water sampling in the water treatment plant’s lab in 2018. (Photo by Artsea Productions)

In 1999, GCWA doubled the plant’s capacity to 50 MGD and built a pipeline network southward to serve Galveston Island and westward along Highway 6 from Tiki Island (Galveston County Fresh Water Supply District #6) to Bayou Vista (MUD #12), the city of Hitchcock, and Santa Fe (WCID #8), eventually connecting to water lines running to League City. After additional expansions, the Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant, with a capacity of 57 MGD, was providing drinking water in 2021 to thirteen communities with almost two hundred thousand residents in a growing Galveston County.

OWNING AN INTEREST IN HOUSTON’S WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM In 1987, GCWA bought 26.5 percent interest in the City of Houston’s Southeast Water Purification Plant (SEWPP) at Ellington Field to ensure future water supplies for the cities of League City and Galveston. The SEWPP had an initial capacity of 80 MGD. GCWA’s interest was divided between League City with 6 MGD and Galveston with 18.4 MGD. 46

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Left: Plant operations and water flows are monitored around the clock from a central control room. Pictured is Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Tony Garcia. (Photo by Artsea Productions)

GCWA’S MUNICIPAL CUSTOMERS 2021

MUNICIPAL (treated water) Bacliff MUD Bayview MUD City of Galveston City of Hitchcock City of La Marque City of League City City of Texas City GC FWSD #6 (Tiki Island) GC MUD #12 (Bayou Vista) GC WCID #1 (Dickinson) GC WCID #12 (Kemah) GC WCID #8 (Santa Fe) San Leon MUD

MUNICIPAL (raw water) City of Missouri City City of Pearland City of Sugar Land Fort Bend County WCID # 2 Pecan Grove MUD GC FWSD – Galveston County Fresh Water Supply District GC WCID – Galveston County Water Control and Improvement District MUD – Municipal Utility District

With expansion of the Texas City water treatment plant in 1999, Galveston’s interest in the SEWPP was sold to League City and other co-participants. The SEWPP was expanded in 2007 from 80 MGD to 200 MGD. GCWA customer League City increased its capacity to 21.5 MGD, and Pearland became a GCWA customer with a purchase of 10 MGD in the SEWPP.

PROVIDING RAW WATER TO MUNICIPALITIES

As Fort Bend County began to transform in the mid-1900s from a largely rural county to a major suburban county, its population and need for municipal water grew. According to the US Census, the county’s population skyrocketed from 16,540 in 1900 to 354,450 in 2000. By 2020, their population had exploded to almost nine hundred thousand. In the mid-1990s, some rapidly growing communities planned for the future by securing options for surface water supplies to replace their groundwater CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Left: Plant operations and water flows are monitored around the clock from a central control room. Pictured is Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Tony Garcia. (Photo by Artsea Productions)

GCWA’S MUNICIPAL CUSTOMERS 2021

PROVIDING RAW WATER TO MUNICIPALITIES

HOW GCWA MAKES DRINKING WATER The water authority provides raw water for treatment by a number of municipal customers in Fort Bend County, including the Pecan Grove Municipal Utility District pictured here.

THE THOMAS MACKEY WATER TREATMENT PLANT utilizes conventional water treatment methods, including coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and chlorination. Coagulation is a chemical process enabled by the addition of positively charged ferric sulfate and a cationic polymer that reacts with the negatively charged colloidal particles in the raw water. This reaction causes the oppositely charged components to attract to each other and form something called floc, which is a gathering of colloidal particles that previously did not have enough mass to settle in water. In the sedimentation process, the speed of the water slows down in the plant to the point the floc can settle to the bottom of a tank called a clarifier. This floc is then pumped out of the process as waste. The water then passes into the filtration process, where filters made up of sand and granular activated carbon remove microscopic particles through a physical straining process, as well as through a process known as adsorption.

Below: GCWA provides an essential service for the health, safety, and growth of its municipal customers.

sources. Sugar Land, Pearland, and Missouri City, as well as Fort Bend WCID #2 (Stafford) and Pecan Grove MUD, contracted with GCWA for surface water when needed. Between 2011 and 2015, all of the communities had exercised their options and began buying GCWA water except Pearland, which still maintained its option.

FUELING ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH WATER Without the leadership and foresight of the industry and business leaders who commissioned that water study in 1947 and pushed for establishment of the water authority in 1965, it is not clear how these communities would solve their land subsidence and water supply challenges. One thing is certain. GCWA’s reliable supply of surface water has helped these communities grow and prosper.

Following filtration, the water is treated with chlorine to deactivate any virus or bacteria that may have been small enough to pass through the filtration process. The chlorine is maintained in the system through chloramination, a combination of chlorine and ammonia that forms chloramines stable enough to sustain a chlorine residual through the entire transmission system, ensuring highquality and safe drinking water at the point of use.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

Below: GCWA provides an essential service for the health, safety, and growth of its municipal customers.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER THREE: Municipal Division Meeting Drinking Water Needs for Growing Communities

TIMELINE OF GCWA

and Its Legacy Entities

TIMELINE OF GCWA

and Its Legacy Entities

1905: Private investors form the Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company, which builds the American Canal System to provide water from the Brazos River for agriculture in Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties. 1908: Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company builds a pumping plant, now known as the Shannon Pumping Plant, just south of Fulshear in Fort Bend County to move water into their American Canal System. 1926: Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company assets and state-issued water rights from the Brazos are transferred to the Brazos Valley Irrigation Company. The system is sold to the American Canal Company in 1940 and to the American Canal Company of Texas in 1959.

1930s–1940: American Canal System extensions, pump stations, and re-lift stations are added, extending the canal through Brazoria County and reaching League City in northern Galveston County in 1940 for agricultural irrigation.

Spurred by demand for water for growing rice and other crops, private companies built canals and pumping plants in the early 1900s to move water from the Brazos River to Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties.

1940–1942: Private investor Bob Briscoe establishes the Briscoe Canal System and Briscoe Irrigation System. The entities build a pumping plant, now named the Briscoe Pumping Plant, on the Brazos River, as well as a fifty-mile canal system, primarily for rice irrigation from eastern Fort Bend County, through Brazoria County, and into western Galveston County.

Below: In 1905, private investors formed the Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company and built the Shannon Pumping Plant in 1908 to move water from the Brazos River for agricultural irrigation. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography)

A 900-acre reservoir was built in the late 1940s to provide surface water to Texas City industries.

1947: Faced with land subsidence problems caused by pumping groundwater from wells, Texas City industries, Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation and Pan American Petroleum & Transport Co., and the Galveston Chamber of Commerce hire engineering firm Ford, Bacon & Davis of New York City to study the problem and find solutions for Texas City industries and the city of Galveston. Based on the study’s recommendations, a non-profit water company is formed to provide surface water from the Brazos River by extending the American Canal System across Galveston County and building a 900-acre reservoir, pumping plant, and pipeline system in Texas City. The company initially purchases water, but not water rights, from the American Canal Company in 1948 and from the Briscoe Irrigation Company in 1966. 1961: Monsanto Chocolate Bayou (now Ascend Performance Materials), located in Brazoria County, begins buying water from the Briscoe Irrigation Company. 1965: The Texas legislature establishes the Galveston County Water Authority (GCWA) at the request of the Industrial Water Company. The legislation names seven board members, who are subsequently appointed by the Galveston County Commissioners Court. 1966–1967: The Brazos River Authority acquires the Briscoe and American Canal Systems and associated state-issued senior water rights, continuing to operate as a wholesale water supplier.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

A 900-acre reservoir was built in the late 1940s to provide surface water to Texas City industries.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

1988: GCWA buys all assets of the American and Briscoe Canal Systems from the Brazos River Authority, including 224,932 acre-feet of water rights on the Brazos River and twelve thousand acre-feet of water rights in Oyster Creek. This is GCWA’s first purchase of water rights and remain with the authority today.

1969: The Texas legislature amends GCWA’s enabling legislation to provide that three of the seven board members are to be recommended by Galveston City Council to Galveston County Commissioners Court. 1971: GCWA buys Industrial Water Company assets for $8.6 million. GCWA contracts with AMC Services (American, Monsanto, & Carbide) to provide management services and operate the Texas City industrial reservoir, industrial pumping plant, and water distribution system. 1971: GCWA contracts with the City of Houston to deliver up to thirty million gallons of water a day (MGD) from Houston to the city of Galveston (25 MGD) and the city of League City (5 MGD). GCWA issues bonds to build the pipeline network to interconnect the three water systems. 1978: The City of Texas City begins building an 18 MGD water treatment plant, later named in honor of longtime GCWA board member, businessman, and community leader Dr. Thomas Mackey.

GCWA bought water rights and canal assets, including the Alvin office, from the Brazos River Authority in 1988. Today, the GCWA Canal Division is based in the office.

1981: GCWA buys the water treatment plant from Texas City, and the cities of Texas City and La Marque become GCWA’s first drinking water customers. 1983: The Texas legislature amends GCWA’s enabling legislation to provide that one of the seven board members is to be recommended by Texas City Commissioners to Galveston County Commissioners Court. 1983: GCWA extends its drinking water pipeline network northward to serve the Dickinson area through the Galveston County Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) #1, the San Leon Municipal Utility District (MUD), and Houston Lighting & Power’s H.P. Robinson Electrical Generating Plant, as well the Bayview and Bacliff Municipal Utility Districts. Soon thereafter, GCWA expands the plant’s treatment capacity to 25 MGD. 1987: GCWA buys a 26.5 percent interest in Houston’s Southeast Water Purification Plant (SEWPP) at Ellington Field to ensure future water supplies for League City and Galveston. The SEWPP has an initial capacity of 80 MGD. GCWA’s interest is divided between League City with 6 MGD and Galveston with 18.4 MGD. 54

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

1991: The Texas legislature changes the name of Galveston County Water Authority to Gulf Coast Water Authority at the request of the GCWA Board of Directors to more accurately reflect its broader service area. 1991: GCWA extends a twelve-inch water line along Highway 146 to Kemah to serve WCID #12. 1993: The Texas legislature amends GCWA’s enabling legislation so Galveston County Commissioners Court will make board appointments as follows: one on the recommendation of Galveston City Council, two at large, two on the recommendation of GCWA’s Mainland Municipal Advisory Committee, and two recommended by its Industrial Advisory Committee. Mid–1990s: GCWA contracts to give future raw water options to the cities of Sugar Land, Pearland, and Missouri City, as well as Fort Bend WCID #2 (Stafford) and the Pecan Grove Municipal Utility District. Between 2011 and 2015, all of the communities have exercised their options and begin buying GCWA water except Pearland, which still maintained its option.

After building a water treatment plant, the City of Texas City sold the plant to the water authority in 1981.

1999–2000: GCWA’s water treatment plant is expanded to 50 MGD to serve Galveston; the Highway 6 communities of Tiki Island, Bayou Vista, Hitchcock, Santa Fe; and a portion of League City. Galveston’s interest in the Houston water treatment plant was sold back to Houston and the co-participants. 2000: Houston and co-participants in the Houston water treatment plant pay to expand the plant from 80 MGD to 120 MGD. GCWA (League City) then owns 16.5 MGD of the plant capacity.

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

GCWA bought water rights and canal assets, including the Alvin office, from the Brazos River Authority in 1988. Today, the GCWA Canal Division is based in the office.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

After building a water treatment plant, the City of Texas City sold the plant to the water authority in 1981.

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

2014: GCWA initiates a successful water metering and conservation program for its rice farming customers. Meters measure and report water volumes to accurately record each participating farm’s use. Between 2016 and 2019, the program conserves 33.7 billion gallons of water.

2006: GCWA buys Chocolate Bayou Water Company assets, including its Chocolate Bayou and Juliff Canal Systems, state-issued senior water rights, and the Juliff Canal System pumping plant on the Brazos River in western Fort Bend County, as well as a pumping plant on Chocolate Bayou in Brazoria County. INEOS chemical company and the Cities of Galveston, Texas City, and Pearland participate in the purchase.

Below: Pictured is the interior of GCWA’s new $19 million industrial pumping plant, built to replace the original 1949 plant to serve Texas City industry.

2007: The Houston water treatment plant is expanded again, from 120 MGD to 200 MGD. GCWA’s customers, League City and Pearland, have 21.5 MGD and 10 MGD respectively. 2009–2015: A severe, statewide drought limits GCWA’s access to water in the Brazos River Basin, prompting GCWA to curtail its sale of water for agricultural use and encourage its municipal and industrial customers to conserve water. 2011: The Texas legislature increases GCWA’s board from seven to nine members with one each to be appointed by the Brazoria County and Fort Bend Commissioners Courts upon the recommendation of GCWA customers in their respective counties.

Bottom: GCWA board, staff, and dignitaries gathered in February 2021 to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new operations center and administration building in Texas City. Top: The Mustang Reservoir was among the assets acquired by GCWA in 2006 from the Chocolate Bayou Water Company. (Photo: Jim Richard Photography) Above: GCWA acquired the Chocolate Bayou Pumping Plant in Brazoria County in 2006, along with other assets, from the Chocolate Bayou Water Company. Left: Severe drought conditions between 2009 and 2015 limited the authority’s access to water in the Brazos River, prompting conservation measures.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

2015: The Texas legislature increases the GCWA board from nine to ten members as follows: five appointed by Galveston County Commissioners Court, with one representing municipal interests, two representing industrial interests, and two at large; two appointed by Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, with one representing municipal interests and one at large; three appointed by Brazoria County Commissioners Court, with one representing agricultural interests, one representing municipal interests, and one representing industrial interests. 2015: GCWA pioneers a project with Enchanted Rock LLC to contract for backup electrical power supplies for its most critical assets—the Texas City industrial pumping plant and water treatment plant. In this unique arrangement, GCWA pays Enchanted Rock for standby electrical power at a flat monthly fee. In turn, Enchanted Rock generators provide backup electrical power to GCWA when needed during loss of power. Unused power is sold back to the power grid, providing a revenue source for GCWA. 2020: GCWA dedicates its new $19 million industrial pumping plant in Texas City in honor of Joseph A. Willhelm, GCWA’s first general manager, who worked previously as manager of the private industrial water entity. The new plant replaces the original pumping plant built by the legacy industrial water entity in 1949 and increases pumping capacity by almost 25 percent. 2021: GCWA completes construction of a new Chocolate Bayou Pumping Plant in Brazoria County to replace the original facility built in the mid-1900s. The $8.7 million project provides greater capacity and longterm reliability for GCWA customers. 2021: With additional expansions since 2000, the Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant has a capacity of 57 MGD and provides drinking water to thirteen communities with almost two hundred thousand residents in Galveston County. 2021: GCWA breaks ground on a new nineteen thousand-square-foot operations center and administration building in Texas City. CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

Below: Pictured is the interior of GCWA’s new $19 million industrial pumping plant, built to replace the original 1949 plant to serve Texas City industry.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

The Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant is staffed around the clock to ensure reliable delivery of up to fifty-seven million gallons of water a day to its municipal customers throughout Galveston County. (Photo by Artsea Productions)

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

CHAPTER FOUR: Timeline of GCWA and Its Legacy Entities

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

PUBLISHED SOURCES

Campbell, Collier A. and Susie M. Moncla. Texas City: Images of the Twentieth Century. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Donning Company Publishers, 1998. Hendrickson, Kenneth E., Jr. The Waters of the Brazos: A History of the Brazos River Authority 1929-1979. Waco, Texas: The Texian Press, 1981. Holm, Linda Cooper, Nancy L. Walker, and Tanya E. Baker. Texas City Centennial 1911-2011. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Donning Company Publishers, 2011.

UNPUBLISHED SOURCES

Briscoe Pumping Plant Dedication Program, 1992, GCWA archives. Ford, Bacon & Davis Engineers, New York, 1947 Report, GCWA archives. Smith, Charles B., History of Galveston County Water System, GCWA archives. Texas City Profile of Industrial Competitiveness, Houston-Galveston Area Council, provided by Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce.

ONLINE SOURCES

Brazos River, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazos_River Brazos River Authority, https://brazos.org/About-Us/About-the-BRA Gulf Coast Water Authority (GCWA) Timeline written by Ivan Langford III, former GCWA general manager, https://www.gulfcoastwaterauthoritytx. gov/gcwa-history-and-timeline/pages/timeline Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, https://www.tceq.texas.gov/ permitting/water_rights/wmaster/brazos-river-watermaster US Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov

INTERVIEWS

Matthews, Nancy, 2021. Sauer, David, 2021. Willhelm, Joseph A., 2019.

Brazos River Authority (BRA),

agriculture, 14, 21, 28, 52. See also farmers, rice farming Alvin, City of, 11, 16, 18, 19,

Monsanto, & Carbide),

Company, 14, 52

drought, 14, 16, 20, 23, 56 E Eastman Chemical, Texas City, 31

21, 41, 53, 55 Briscoe Irrigation Company, 15, 21, 29, 30, 53

Ellington Field, 46, 54 Enchanted Rock, LLC, 57 Excelsior Corporation, 10, 29

Briscoe Pumping Plant, 4, 8, 17, 21 ,24, 53 ,60 Briscoe, R. T. “Bob,” 21

F Farmers, 7, 22, 25. See also agriculture, rice farming

Texas City, 31 Austin, Stephen F., 14

Ford, Bacon & Davis, 15, 28, 53, 60

Canal Division, 5, 8, 10, 17, 20, B

22, 37, 55

Bacliff Municipal Utility District (MUD), 42, 47, 54 Baldwin, Monte, 18 Bay Street Park, Texas City, Texas, 41 Bayou Vista, City of, 55 Baytown, City of, 64 Bayview Municipal Utility District (MUD), 42, 47, 54 Brazoria County Commissioners Court, 57 Brazoria, County of, 10, 14, 15,

Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, 57

Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company, 12, 14, 52

Fort Bend County Water Control and Improvement

Carbide & Carbon Chemicals

District (WCID) #2

Corporation, 15, 28, 53

(Stafford), 47, 49, 55

Chocolate Bayou, 8, 17, 30, 31, 56

Fort Bend, County of, 1 ,4, 6-8, 11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20,

Chocolate Bayou Canal

21, 40, 47, 49, 52, 53, 56, 57

System, 17, 30, 56 Chocolate Bayou Pumping

Fulshear, City of, 14, 20, 52

Plant, 17, 18, 23, 56, 57 Chocolate Bayou Water Company, 17, 30, 56

G G Canal, 28, 29

17, 18, 23, 25, 30, 31, 53,

Community Strategies, LLC, 64

Galveston Bay, 31

56, 57

conservation, 16, 25, 56, 57

Galveston Chamber of

Cross, Ethan, 25

Texas City, 31

Briscoe Canal System, 15, 16,

Chocolate Bayou, 30, 31, 53 Ashland Specialty Ingredients,

Dow Chemical Company,

Brazos Valley Irrigation

40, 46, 59 Ascend Performance Materials,

55, 60

Brazos River Basin, Lower, 21, 23

20, 29, 52, 53 Artsea Productions, 11, 25, 37,

Dickinson, City of, 42, 47, 54, 64

24, 56

29, 54 American Canal Company, 14,

14, 16, 20, 22, 37, 41, 53, Brazos River Basin, 6, 7, 14, 23,

22, 37, 55 AMC Services (American,

Commerce, 15, 28, 40, 43

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

PUBLISHED SOURCES

UNPUBLISHED SOURCES

ONLINE SOURCES

INTERVIEWS

Matthews, Nancy, 2021. Sauer, David, 2021. Willhelm, Joseph A., 2019.

Brazos River Authority (BRA),

agriculture, 14, 21, 28, 52. See also farmers, rice farming Alvin, City of, 11, 16, 18, 19,

Monsanto, & Carbide),

Company, 14, 52

drought, 14, 16, 20, 23, 56 E Eastman Chemical, Texas City, 31

21, 41, 53, 55 Briscoe Irrigation Company, 15, 21, 29, 30, 53

Ellington Field, 46, 54 Enchanted Rock, LLC, 57 Excelsior Corporation, 10, 29

Briscoe Pumping Plant, 4, 8, 17, 21 ,24, 53 ,60 Briscoe, R. T. “Bob,” 21

F Farmers, 7, 22, 25. See also agriculture, rice farming

Texas City, 31 Austin, Stephen F., 14

Ford, Bacon & Davis, 15, 28, 53, 60

Canal Division, 5, 8, 10, 17, 20, B

22, 37, 55

Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, 57

Cane & Rice Belt Irrigation Company, 12, 14, 52

Fort Bend County Water Control and Improvement

Carbide & Carbon Chemicals

District (WCID) #2

Corporation, 15, 28, 53

(Stafford), 47, 49, 55

Chocolate Bayou, 8, 17, 30, 31, 56

Fort Bend, County of, 1 ,4, 6-8, 11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20,

Chocolate Bayou Canal

21, 40, 47, 49, 52, 53, 56, 57

System, 17, 30, 56 Chocolate Bayou Pumping

Fulshear, City of, 14, 20, 52

Plant, 17, 18, 23, 56, 57 Chocolate Bayou Water Company, 17, 30, 56

G G Canal, 28, 29

17, 18, 23, 25, 30, 31, 53,

Community Strategies, LLC, 64

Galveston Bay, 31

56, 57

conservation, 16, 25, 56, 57

Galveston Chamber of

Cross, Ethan, 25

Texas City, 31

Briscoe Canal System, 15, 16,

Chocolate Bayou, 30, 31, 53 Ashland Specialty Ingredients,

Dow Chemical Company,

Brazos Valley Irrigation

40, 46, 59 Ascend Performance Materials,

55, 60

Brazos River Basin, Lower, 21, 23

20, 29, 52, 53 Artsea Productions, 11, 25, 37,

Dickinson, City of, 42, 47, 54, 64

24, 56

29, 54 American Canal Company, 14,

14, 16, 20, 22, 37, 41, 53, Brazos River Basin, 6, 7, 14, 23,

22, 37, 55 AMC Services (American,

Commerce, 15, 28, 40, 43

Galveston City Council, 54, 55

Galveston County

H. P. Robinson Electrical

La Marque, City of, 42, 47, 54

Generating Plant, 42, 54

Commissioners Court, 11, 40, 53, 54, 55, 57 Galveston County Fresh Water

Halls Bayou, 8 Hoff, Art, 18

#6 (Tiki Island), 46, 47

Houston, City of, 42

Galveston County Municipal

Houston Lighting & Power, 42, 46, 54

Utility District (GC MUD) #12 (Bayou Vista), 47

League City, City of, 42, 46, 47, 54

Houston Water Treatment

Company, 9, 28, 29

Quinn, Joe, 17, 21, 22

Texas City Water Treatment

rice farming, 5, 25, 57. See also agriculture, farmers

Marathon Petroleum Galveston Bay Refinery,

Robbins, Ed, 21

Texas City, 31

Rosenberg, City of, 14

Matthews, Nancy, 5, 43

Industrial Advisory

May, William Joseph, 20

May Pumping Plant, 17, 20

San Leon Municipal Utility

Committee, 55

Texas City Reservoir, 4, 9, 28, 37

Galveston County Water Control and Improvement

Industrial Division, 5, 10, 27, 37

Missouri City, City of, 47, 49, 55

District (GC WCID) #1

Industrial Water Company, 15,

Monsanto Chocolate Bayou,

Plant, 11, 41, 47 Texas City, Port of, 31 Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce, 60 Texas Commission on

Program, 23

INEOS, Chocolate Bayou, 31

Performance Materials,

Schwartz, Texas Senator A. R.

Control and Improvement

Intercoastal Waterway, 31

Chocolate Bayou

District (GC WCID) #8

International Paper Company, 17, 30

Galveston County Water Control and Improvement District (GC WCID) #12

(Kemah), 47, 55

Jim Richard Photography, 4, 8, 26, 45, 52, 56

Galveston Island, 42, 46 Galveston, City of, 15, 17, 29, 40, 46, 47, 54, 55, 56

Shannon Pumping Plant, 9, 12,

29, 37, 38, 40, 41, 46, 53,

Juliff Canal System, 17, 56

57, 59

Juliff Pumping Plant, 20

Garcia, Tony, 46 K Kemah, City of, 42, 55

General Crude Oil Company, 17, 18 Gulf of Mexico, 14, 31 GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Arthur, 5, 36, 37, 57, 60 William May Pumping Plant, 17, 18

29, 37, 42, 53-57 Texas State Highway 3, Texas State Highway 6,

Mustang Reservoir, 56

Smith, Judge Charles B., 40

Texas State Highway 146,

South Texas Water Company,

Texas Water Development

Board, 25

17, 18 Southeast Water Purification Plant (SEWPP), 46, 54

Thomas, Kathy, 4, 64 Thomas Mackey Nature Center, 41

subsidence, 10, 15, 28, 40, 41, O

49, 53

Oyster Creek, 16-18, 55

Willhelm, Joseph “Joe”

Texas legislature, 4, 6, 7, 16,

Shannon, Darrell E., 20

Pumping Plant, 10, 32, 34,

water treatment methods, 48

Service, 43

Mustang Bayou, 8

NRG, 14

14, 16, 20, 52

(MUD), 42, 47, 54

Joseph A. Willhelm Industrial

7, 9-11, 15, 16, 18, 25, 28,

Municipal Utility District

North, Devon, 46

Galveston, County of, 1, 4, 6,

GCWA Board of Directors, 22,

Seeley, Terry, 38

Jones Creek, 16, 18

30, 37, 41, 52, 53, 55, 56

Texas Engineering Extension

“Babe,” 40

Monsanto, 29, 30, 54

Ivan Langford Consulting, 64

water rights, 8, 16, 17, 21-23,

Environmental Quality

District (MUD), 42, 54 Sauer, David, 5, 17, 22

(Santa Fe), 46, 47

Wade, Brandon, 5, 6

Texas Commission on

30, 53. See also Ascend

Galveston County Water

(TCEQ), 23, 60

Brazos Watermaster

29, 37, 40, 53, 54

Valero Refining, Texas City, 31

Environmental Quality

Santa Fe, City of, 46, 55

(Dickinson), 42, 54

Raney, Huey, 22

Mackey, Dr. Thomas S., 41

Texas City Refining Company,

Authority, 16, 40, 53, 55 Galveston County Water

Plant, 34, 35, 57

Lewis, John, 46

Plant, 55, 56

Galveston County Water

Texas City Industrial Pumping

District (MUD), 49, 55

Langford, Ivan III, 4, 60, 64

Hitchcock, City of, 46, 47

Supply District (GC FWSD)

Pecan Grove Municipal Utility

Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant, 37, 38,

Sugar Land, City of, 47, 55

46, 48, 57, 59 P

Tiki Island, Village of, 46, 55

Pan American Petroleum &

Texas City, City of, 11, 37,

Triplett, James, 17

Transport Co., 15, 28, 53 Pearland, City of, 17, 30, 47, 49, 55, 56

40-43, 47, 54 Texas City industrial complex, 9, 10, 26, 37

U Underground Storage LLC, Houston, 31

Index

Galveston City Council, 54, 55

Galveston County

H. P. Robinson Electrical

La Marque, City of, 42, 47, 54

Generating Plant, 42, 54

Commissioners Court, 11, 40, 53, 54, 55, 57 Galveston County Fresh Water

Halls Bayou, 8 Hoff, Art, 18

#6 (Tiki Island), 46, 47

Houston, City of, 42

Galveston County Municipal

Houston Lighting & Power, 42, 46, 54

Utility District (GC MUD) #12 (Bayou Vista), 47

League City, City of, 42, 46, 47, 54

Houston Water Treatment

Company, 9, 28, 29

Quinn, Joe, 17, 21, 22

Texas City Water Treatment

rice farming, 5, 25, 57. See also agriculture, farmers

Marathon Petroleum Galveston Bay Refinery,

Robbins, Ed, 21

Texas City, 31

Rosenberg, City of, 14

Matthews, Nancy, 5, 43

Industrial Advisory

May, William Joseph, 20

May Pumping Plant, 17, 20

San Leon Municipal Utility

Committee, 55

Texas City Reservoir, 4, 9, 28, 37

Galveston County Water Control and Improvement

Industrial Division, 5, 10, 27, 37

Missouri City, City of, 47, 49, 55

District (GC WCID) #1

Industrial Water Company, 15,

Monsanto Chocolate Bayou,

Plant, 11, 41, 47 Texas City, Port of, 31 Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce, 60 Texas Commission on

Program, 23

INEOS, Chocolate Bayou, 31

Performance Materials,

Schwartz, Texas Senator A. R.

Control and Improvement

Intercoastal Waterway, 31

Chocolate Bayou

District (GC WCID) #8

International Paper Company, 17, 30

Galveston County Water Control and Improvement District (GC WCID) #12

(Kemah), 47, 55

Jim Richard Photography, 4, 8, 26, 45, 52, 56

Galveston Island, 42, 46 Galveston, City of, 15, 17, 29, 40, 46, 47, 54, 55, 56

Shannon Pumping Plant, 9, 12,

29, 37, 38, 40, 41, 46, 53,

Juliff Canal System, 17, 56

57, 59

Juliff Pumping Plant, 20

Garcia, Tony, 46 K Kemah, City of, 42, 55

General Crude Oil Company, 17, 18 Gulf of Mexico, 14, 31 GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY: A History of Reliable Water Delivery

Arthur, 5, 36, 37, 57, 60 William May Pumping Plant, 17, 18

29, 37, 42, 53-57 Texas State Highway 3, Texas State Highway 6,

Mustang Reservoir, 56

Smith, Judge Charles B., 40

Texas State Highway 146,

South Texas Water Company,

Texas Water Development

Board, 25

17, 18 Southeast Water Purification Plant (SEWPP), 46, 54

Thomas, Kathy, 4, 64 Thomas Mackey Nature Center, 41

subsidence, 10, 15, 28, 40, 41, O

49, 53

Oyster Creek, 16-18, 55

Willhelm, Joseph “Joe”

Texas legislature, 4, 6, 7, 16,

Shannon, Darrell E., 20

Pumping Plant, 10, 32, 34,

water treatment methods, 48

Service, 43

Mustang Bayou, 8

NRG, 14

14, 16, 20, 52

(MUD), 42, 47, 54

Joseph A. Willhelm Industrial

7, 9-11, 15, 16, 18, 25, 28,

Municipal Utility District

North, Devon, 46

Galveston, County of, 1, 4, 6,

GCWA Board of Directors, 22,

Seeley, Terry, 38

Jones Creek, 16, 18

30, 37, 41, 52, 53, 55, 56

Texas Engineering Extension

“Babe,” 40

Monsanto, 29, 30, 54

Ivan Langford Consulting, 64

water rights, 8, 16, 17, 21-23,

Environmental Quality

District (MUD), 42, 54 Sauer, David, 5, 17, 22

(Santa Fe), 46, 47

Wade, Brandon, 5, 6

Texas Commission on

30, 53. See also Ascend

Galveston County Water

(TCEQ), 23, 60

Brazos Watermaster

29, 37, 40, 53, 54

Valero Refining, Texas City, 31

Environmental Quality

Santa Fe, City of, 46, 55

(Dickinson), 42, 54

Raney, Huey, 22

Mackey, Dr. Thomas S., 41

Texas City Refining Company,

Authority, 16, 40, 53, 55 Galveston County Water

Plant, 34, 35, 57

Lewis, John, 46

Plant, 55, 56

Galveston County Water

Texas City Industrial Pumping

District (MUD), 49, 55

Langford, Ivan III, 4, 60, 64

Hitchcock, City of, 46, 47

Supply District (GC FWSD)

Pecan Grove Municipal Utility

Thomas Mackey Water Treatment Plant, 37, 38,

Sugar Land, City of, 47, 55

46, 48, 57, 59 P

Tiki Island, Village of, 46, 55

Pan American Petroleum &

Texas City, City of, 11, 37,

Triplett, James, 17

Transport Co., 15, 28, 53 Pearland, City of, 17, 30, 47, 49, 55, 56

40-43, 47, 54 Texas City industrial complex, 9, 10, 26, 37

U Underground Storage LLC, Houston, 31

Index

ABOUT THE AUTHORS IVAN LANGFORD III

Ivan Langford III is a native Houstonian who earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and his master’s degree from the University of Houston, Clear Lake. His career has spanned more than fortyfive years in local government public service in Texas. He has served as public works director for Baytown, city manager and public works director for La Marque, general manager for the Dickinson Water District, city administrator for Dickinson, and city manager for the town of Little Elm. Most recently, Langford served as the general manager of the Gulf Coast Water Authority. In 2020, he retired from public service and opened his own firm, Ivan Langford Consulting. He continues today in serving multiple communities, assisting with operations, maintenance, and long-term planning needs. Langford is also involved in multiple civic and charitable organizations. He enjoys spending time with his eight grandchildren and restoring a 1930 Ford Model A.

KATHY THOMAS

Kathy Thomas, owner of Community Strategies LLC, has had a lifelong love of words and images. After earning a journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin, she embarked on a newspaper career that included working as a reporter and managing editor for the Galveston County Daily News, the oldest newspaper in Texas. She was only the second woman editor in the paper’s century-plus history. Thomas later started a successful corporate communications firm to help clients accomplish their business goals by developing and executing results-driven strategies. Her company has worked with organizations of all sizes, from Fortune 100 corporations, such as BP and Shell, to respected regional entities. The native Houstonian also enjoys travel with family and friends, walking her two dogs and, of course, reading.

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY A History of Reliable Water Delivery

ISBN: 978-1-68184-312-4

GULF COAST WATER AUTHORITY A History of Reliable Water Delivery