Shavano Park to Create Water Model to Determine Needs (Source: Community Impact)
By Community Impact Staff
City Council on March 25 approved a work order tasking Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam—one of the city’s on-call engineering firms—to formulate a comprehensive water hydrology model, an action step outlined in the long-range town plan that local leaders approved in 2023.
John Baker, vice president at Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam, said town officials have been relying on a water system map produced in the late 1980s.
City officials said building a water system hydraulic model will achieve the following objectives:
- Help Shavano Park’s water utility personnel plan capital replacements by identifying the age and material of water mains to determine their usable life
- Determine the appropriate water main size for future installation based on the number of home service connections and water usage
- Determine whether additional booster pumps are needed to boost fire suppression capability
- Improve the city’s Insurance Services Office rating, which reflects a community’s fire preparedness and can affect homeowners insurance rates
- Determine whether additional water capacity is needed
