The Emergency $130-Million Ward County Water Supply Project

West Texas has experienced sustained drought conditions for more than 10 years; however, the drought of 2010-2011 was particularly brutal to surface water supplies. Soaring temperatures and lack of rainfall led to high evaporation, dry soil conditions and minimal runoff for supply reservoirs. The Colorado River Municipal Water District (CRMWD) owns and operates three supply reservoirs in West Texas, but the combined storage volume in their reservoirs fell to 5.5 percent, creating a severe water-supply crisis and forcing CRMWD to build an emergency ground-water supply for Odessa, Midland, Big Spring and other water supply customers. Design for the $130-million Ward County Water Supply Project began in June 2011 and operation started in December 2012, just a few months before CRMWD's three surface water supplies would not be usable for water supply. The project is critical to the economic vitality of the region, which is experiencing one of the largest oil booms in decades, and is vital to our nation's energy independence and economic sustainability. This paper presents the challenges and lessons learned for the design, permitting and construction of CRMWD's new 30-million gallon per day (MGD) water supply system that includes 21 groundwater wells, 65 miles of pipeline, four pump stations and other related facilities. The paper discusses the following: ≤ Measures taken to complete the design and construction in less than 18 months ≤ Easement acquisition and permitting challenges ≤ New alternate delivery methods to expedite construction, manage risk and improve quality ≤ Pipeline construction using on-site mixed controlled low-strength material (CLSM) ≤ Use of new technology tools for design, construction and managing the project ≤ Drilling, producing and equipping 21 wells in record time. With solid planning, teamwork, heroic effort and a little luck, the new supply began operations before the lakes went dry.