HOUSTON – Houston Public Works is calling for major investments to upgrade the city’s aging water infrastructure, following a firsthand look at the East Water Purification Plant.
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The facility, which lost power in 2022 and triggered a citywide boil water notice for 2.2 million residents, is more than 70 years old and in critical need of repairs, officials say.
KPRC 2 Investigates previously obtained an engineering report revealing the plant requires multimillion-dollar upgrades to prevent future failures.
During a guided tour of the plant on Monday, Houston Public Works Deputy Director Greg Eyerly emphasized the importance of modernizing the facility, as well as other key water infrastructure across the region.
“We’re also looking at other upgrades,” said Eyerly. “Upstream of us is the Lynchburg pump station. That’s what gets the water here from the Trinity River, and so that too is going under basically a rehab.”
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City officials are working to secure local, state, and federal assistance to fund these much-needed improvements.
“This plant alone, right now, our latest cost estimate is around $4.1 billion just for this plant,” Eyerly explained. “So you’re looking at basically an infrastructure investment of about $6 billion on the waterside. Keep in mind we have the wastewater consent decree as well—that’s another $9 billion. So you’re really looking at $15 billion that needs to be spent on the greater Houston area’s water treatment and wastewater treatment over the next decade and a half.”
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One of the key investments includes replacing 6% of Houston’s aging water lines, which officials say could prevent massive water loss.
“Now we’re asking for $480 million up front to help us with the worst 6% of the pipe. We have modeled that the worst 6% of our pipe accounts for two-thirds of our water loss—not two-thirds of our leaks, but two-thirds of our loss,” Eyerly said.
During the tour, KPRC 2 got a close-up look at how the facility treats water before it reaches millions of Houstonians. Officials pointed out structural concerns, including visible cracks and aging components.
“You’ll see a crack in the sidewall. See how there are structural issues with the settling basin here? Those kinds of major infrastructure issues can cause real problems,” said Eyerly. “And then you could ask, ‘Can’t you just rehab all of this?’ You could, but it’d be very expensive—just about as expensive as building a new plant. And there’s a lot of risk to existing operations when you’re rehabbing a plant. So that’s why we don’t think that’s the correct thing to do.”
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What’s Next? Houston Public Works says the next step is beginning the planning process for how the new plant will be designed and built. Officials have identified a large site adjacent to the current facility where the new plant could be constructed.
Cost remains a major concern as discussions continue about how to fund the massive project.
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