Aging water and sewer pipes in the Carter's Grove neighborhood are next in line for replacement, and a federal grant would pay most of the cost of designing the new lines.
The City Council is asked Thursday, Oct. 22, to accept $750,000 in Community Project Funding that Congress set aside for College Station and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally awarded on Sept. 18. The item is on the consent agenda for the meeting, where the open session reconvenes no earlier than 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1101 Texas Ave.
What the money buys
The EPA award describes the Carter's Grove Utility Rehabilitation Project as replacing and relocating aging water and wastewater lines in the neighborhood. The grant pays for the engineering, not the construction: the deliverables are 30%, 60% and 100% engineering reports covering about 14,000 linear feet of wastewater lines and 11,000 linear feet of drinking water lines, to replace pipes the award calls aging and damaged.
The approved budget is $937,500, all of it for contracted work. The EPA agreed to pay 80% of approved costs, up to its $750,000 share, which leaves the city to cover the remaining 20%, or about $187,500 if the full budget is spent. The project period runs from Nov. 13, 2025, through March 31, 2027.
How Carter's Grove got the money
The money comes from $1.608 billion that Congress designated in 2026 for locally identified water infrastructure projects. According to the city's resolution, College Station's legislative affairs staff wrote to U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul asking for $6 million for water and wastewater replacement work. The city received $750,000 of that request.
The funding was first aimed at a different neighborhood. The resolution says the College Heights Utility Rehabilitation project was the original choice, but staff switched to Carter's Grove because program rules limit eligible expenses to a one-year window and set specific procurement requirements that the Carter's Grove work could meet.
