League City's City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to award combined contracts worth $86 million to expand the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility, a project city officials say will be the most expensive capital improvement the city has ever undertaken. The expansion is meant to keep the city's sewer system ahead of a wave of development planned on League City's west side.
The contracts went to Fort Worth-based consulting firm Freese and Nichols and Houston-based CSA Construction, according to Community Impact. League City City Manager John Baumgartner told council members the project speaks for itself in scale. “It's probably the most expensive [capital improvement project] we've ever done in League City,” Baumgartner said.
The Southwest Water Reclamation Facility, which serves southwest League City, currently treats 4 million gallons of wastewater per day. The newly approved work will boost that capacity by 2 million gallons per day, with Baumgartner saying the upgrades are designed so the plant can eventually reach 12 million gallons per day of capacity, per the same report. The project calls for a new UV channel, a new lift station, a new aeration basin, electrical upgrades and control-system upgrades, and city staff said the improvements will also let the plant absorb some flow from the Dallas Salmon wastewater treatment facility on the city's east side.
Why League City Is Racing to Expand
The investment is tied directly to growth plans for League City's still-largely-undeveloped west side. The west side holds around 5,500 undeveloped acres, roughly 4,300 of which are owned by a handful of developers, according to a Community Impact report on the city's west side master plan. That plan projects the west side's population will more than double by 2060 after 2030, with households and employment expected to roughly triple over the same period, and anticipates demand reaching 6.5 million gallons of water per day.
Citywide, League City's population is projected to grow by nearly 40% between 2020 and 2030, the same master plan report notes. The Daily News has reported that League City's population climbed to 121,595 in 2023, up from 118,740 the year before. The Houston Chronicle has quoted a city spokesperson saying about 40% of the city remained undeveloped. The Daily News also reported that all wastewater generated in the city is treated at one of just two facilities: the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility or the Dallas Salmon Water Reclamation Facility.
A Price Tag That Has Shifted Over Time
The cost and scope of the Southwest plant expansion have evolved considerably since it first appeared on the city's radar. Back in 2023, the Houston Chronicle reported the city planned to invest up to $90 million to take the facility from 4 million to 8 million gallons per day, describing it then as the plant's first major expansion since it was built — though the Chronicle put the construction year at 2009, while Community Impact's more recent reporting lists 2012, a discrepancy the available record does not resolve. A city notice from that period similarly described a jump to 8 million gallons per day rather than the 6-million target in this week's approved plan.
An earlier plan called for expanding the Southwest facility from 4 million to 8 million gallons per day, with construction costs of up to $90 million. The Daily News also reported that League City expects to spend about $500 million over the next decade on wastewater and water-system infrastructure. City officials say this week's $86 million in awarded contracts will be paid for mostly with capital recovery fees, per Community Impact.
How League City's Project Compares
League City's expansion is modest next to some of the mega-projects underway elsewhere in Texas. Austin Water is pursuing a $1 billion expansion of its Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, aiming to boost capacity from 75 million to 100 million gallons per day with construction continuing through 2031, according to the Austin Monitor. That plant, which handles roughly half the city's wastewater, is also incorporating ultraviolet disinfection in place of chemicals like chlorine — similar to the UV channel planned for League City's facility.
Smaller but fast-growing cities face comparable cost pressures. In Eagle Mountain, Utah, officials estimated a 6-million-gallon-per-day wastewater expansion at about $120 million in 2025 dollars, with construction expected to take three to four years and the added capacity slated to come online in 2029, according to Engineering News-Record. For League City, the exact construction timeline and completion date for the Southwest facility's latest expansion have not been detailed in available city records.
