A milestone in the creation of the 150 mile 2.3 billion dollar Integrated Pipeline Project (IPL) is about to be reached. After nearly four years of construction and 12 years since its initial proposal, the first 50 miles of this giant pipeline will begin operation. This is a huge initial step for the pipeline; which isn’t expected to be completed in its entirety until 2035. The project was built in partnership with the city of Dallas, and will bring 150 million gallons of water the city. Getting to this point was neither easy nor inexpensive.
The Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) was brought in to construct the pipeline in 2010, which would bring 200 million gallons of water in for itself daily. The process started slowly with construction not beginning until 2014 and enough of the land needed to construct the pipeline had been acquired. Court challenges followed but by 2018 all but 31 of the 517 needed were taken. Several feats of engineering were needed to get to this point; as well with the world’s largest gate valve being installed a balancing reservoir capable of holding 450 million gallons needed to be created. To build the entire project so far TRWD and Dallas have spent 937 million dollars on the project. With Texas growing 12 to 14 percent in recent years, the demand for water is very much present.
The next milestone is expected to come by 2020 when 220 million gallons will be added to the capacity of the pipeline system after the addition of the Joint Cedar Creek No. 1 Lake Station.
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