What’s the Issue? In 2023 SJRA’s 10-year plan delineated replacing 48 miles of asbestos cement (AC) pipe soley based on age at an estimated cost of $250 million. Spurred on by Residents First Directors, recent engineering sampling and testing determined that over the next 10 years that program could be reduced to about $140 million.

What Do Your Woodlands Residents First Candidates Support? We saved residents $100+ million by preventing premature water line replacements over the next 10 years. We will continue to support future replacements of water distribution pipelines based on condition, as revealed through technical sampling, testing and analyses, not age.

Dig Deeper? The San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) Woodlands Division operates more than 121 miles of potable water distribution lines that are 12 inches in diameter and larger, including over 48 miles of AC pipe installed in The Woodlands between 1973 and 1995.

Based soley on age, in 2023 the SJRA delivered a 10-year plan to The Woodlands MUDs that included complete replacement of all 48 miles of AC pipe. Recognizing that the 50-year limit of useful life may have been arbitrary and that other regions of the country had documented much older, healthy AC pipe, the Residents First Directors requested physical testing and analyses of The Woodlands pipelines. The recent results, delivered by a widely recognized and highly regarded water pipeline engineering firm, confirmed that pipelines in The Woodlands should be replaced based on condition, not age. As a result, the expected cost of replacing pipelines in true need of repair over the next 10 years has been reduced by over $100 million.