NBU has outlined a $126 million Gruene wastewater expansion that would lift treatment capacity from 2.5 million to 4.9 million gallons a day.
For New Braunfels wastewater customers, that would mean 2.4 million gallons a day of additional planned treatment capacity if the project is completed. NBU’s Oct. 2 project announcement describes the expansion as a response to wastewater needs as the service area grows.
The public figures answer what the enlarged plant is intended to handle. They do not assign the project’s cost among current customer rates, borrowing, development impact fees and other sources. That assignment matters because each source places a different share of the cost on customers now, customers later or new development. The figures below describe the scale and timing of NBU’s plan; none is a household bill estimate.
What the numbers measure
NBU describes about $81 million of the project as budgeted over five years. The $126 million figure describes the whole-project budget; the five-year figure describes a planning window. Their difference should not be treated as a cost overrun or assigned to a later year without a project-level schedule. NBU’s financial plan is the primary record for the utility’s broader capital program.