(Seguin) – The city of Seguin has officially broken ground on the largest single capital project ever.
The city on Tuesday gave way to the start of construction and expansion of its Geronimo Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant located on Seitz Road just west of the Randolph Auxiliary Airport.
Seguin Mayor Donna Dodgen says the project will finally decommission the sewer treatment plant located on Walnut Creek near downtown. She says its waste stream will be transferred to the Geronimo Creek WWTP.
“That water treatment plant — that a long time ago when it was initially there in Walnut Branch — was outside of town and now, it’s at the edge of our downtown and it’s in town and so with that being gone, that area will flourish. It has dealt with that odor, with that eyesore for a long, long time and that doesn’t need to happen. Those folks don’t need to be doing that and our town doesn’t need to be doing that. So, when that is removed, there will be something incredible there. I’m not sure what it will be. It could be pie in the sky but there will be something incredible there and everything will be moved outside of town as we know it today and it will take us to 2070,” said Dodgen.
It was in 2020, when the council approved the decision to move forward with the project. She says the cost which includes Texas Water Development Board funding is projected at $183,769,179 – the largest capital project to date.
“It is the costliest project that we’ve ever done and the largest that we’ve ever undertaken but we need it as part of our growth and as Seguin changes and becomes better. That’s very large and so what happened was, we looked at if we expanded this one and expanded Walnut Creek where it was, we were like only $57 million different and I know millions sound like a lot but to get this and to be out here plus decommission that one, it was worth that amount of money so that was very important to us. It’s going to be paid by impact fees and the wastewater rate is projected to be less than 5 percent over the next five years. That’s our goal is not having anymore than we’ve already been raising it and let developers and the right-of-way fees and some other fees pay for this expansion. Actually, what it is going to pay for is our debt service on this and eventually pay it off,” said Dodgen.
Initiating the project from the very beginning was Tim Howe, the director of wastewater utilities for the city of Seguin.
Dodgen says Howe and his whole team should be applauded for helping the city arrive to this point.
“I want to tell him and say to him, thank you for all that you do for us, for all that you do for our citizens – he makes things seem seamless and so does his staff and that is an incredible feat to be honest with you. What they do may not be sexy as we say but it is necessary and to take us to that next level is something that we needed. Can you imagine that decommissioning and what is going to happen there along with some of the other things that we are doing downtown and are happening in town?” said Dodgen.
The construction contract for the expansion has been awarded to PLW Waterworks. Also helping to oversee the project is TRC Engineering. The project is expected to be completed in August 2027.