Published: July 08, 2008 10:12 am      

McCarty project bid gets nod

San Marcos — The San Marcos City Council has awarded a $1,297,836 contract to the Lupe Rubio Construction Company of Kingsland for the construction of Phase II of the McCarty Lane water line project.

The project will extend a water transmission main to connect the McCarty water tank service area to the service area of the San Marcos Surface Water Treatment Plant.

The project is part of the city's Water Master Plan and will help reduce water use from the Edwards Aquifer, city officials said.

The main will extend both 16-inch and 24-inch pipes from Hunter and McCarty Lane to IH-35.

The line will serve future development west of the intersection of Centerpoint and Hunter Road. The transmission main will also serve Tanger and Prime Outlet Malls and the new San Marcos Conference Center and Embassy Suites Hotel project.

Rubio Construction was the low bidder of 21 companies that submitted bids, officials said.

The project is scheduled to begin in August and should be completed in January 2009.

The city has reduced groundwater pumping from the Edwards Aquifer significantly since construction of the Surface Water Treatment Plant in 2000, city officials said. In 2007, about 78 percent of city water use was supplied by surface water from Canyon Lake and only 22 percent from the Edwards Aquifer.

For more information about the project, contact Jennifer Shell, senior engineer with the city's engineering department, at 393-8130.