A Series of Stories About the Integrated Pipeline and Working Together

The Integrated Pipeline (IPL) is a massive water supply project that will help Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) and Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) meet the growing water demands in North Texas. This series of short stories is based on interviews with DWU Director, Terry Lowery, and TRWD General Manager, Dan Buhman. Together they explain how the project came together.
Story One: An Idea is Born.
Both entities were originally planning separate water supply projects to connect existing supplies to their systems. And as they were talking about their future water needs, they discovered they both needed additional water in roughly the same location at roughly the same time. And that’s how this idea was born. What if we did it together?
Story Two: Blossoming Partnership (1:02)
The partnership between Dallas Water Utilities and the Water District has been a huge benefit to the entire region. It saved both parties more than a billion dollars over the life of the project. And that savings gets passed on to our customers. It’s about meeting future growth. Being economical. And doing the project in a sustainable way. What a way to show that there are huge benefits from working together.
Story Three: Connecting Existing Supplies (2:01)
“So, the water’s there. We’ve already developed the supply. We’ve built the reservoir. We have it ready to go.” For DWU, the new pipeline adds a connection to its last unconnected reservoir - Lake Palestine, near Tyler, Texas. For TRWD, the IPL adds capacity to our system and allows us to get additional water from Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers Reservoirs.
Story Four: Reliability and Efficiency (3:03)
From the Water District’s perspective, this additional pipeline gives us more reliability. We will still have the ability to deliver water from our East Texas Reservoirs, even if something happens to the current pipeline system now in place. And this project has opened everybody’s eyes on how to use our water more efficiently in the North Texas region. That’s a good thing for all of us.
Story Five: A Regional Approach (3:55)
As we get further away, water supply projects get more and more expensive. If we can do a regional water supply project and cut those costs, it benefits all of us. And the Integrated pipeline is a great example of regional collaboration and regional partnerships that make things better for our customers. By building the IPL together, DWU and TRWD have set the stage for future projects where we work together instead of compete.