Officials from the City of Arlington and Bethesda Water Supply Corporation gathered Thursday, May 30 to celebrate the completion of infrastructure that is now bringing Arlington tap water to Burleson and several unincorporated areas of Johnson and Tarrant counties. The event was the culmination of work that began in 2015, when the Arlington City Council approved an agreement for Arlington to sell water to Bethesda.

Bethesda Water Supply Corporation, which is based in Burleson, serves about 30,000 people in communities southwest of Arlington. As part of the water sales agreement, Arlington oversaw the construction of about 7,900 feet of new water transmission main starting at Arlington Water’s Tierra Verde Elevated Storage Tank, near U.S. 287. The new 24-inch water main now connects Arlington’s water distribution system to Bethesda’s North East Pump Station at Eden Road South and Hudson Cemetery Road in Mansfield. The station, which was the site of the Thursday event, includes a new one-million-gallon storage tank and high service pumps. Bethesda Water Supply built the North East Pump Station to support the water sales agreement.

“Today we are celebrating a partnership that is possible because of hard work and planning by City of Arlington and Bethesda Water Supply employees. The new infrastructure that enables water sales to Bethesda customers also enhances the service Arlington already provides to its residents in the area,” said Craig Cummings, Arlington Water Utilities director. 

Arlington Water Utilities designed the new transmission main with in-house engineers, saving more than $80,000 in project costs. 

Arlington has agreed to provide up to 5 million gallons of water per day to Bethesda’s customers in Tarrant and Johnson counties. Arlington will be a secondary source of water for the area. Bethesda Water Supply also uses a combination of well water from the Paluxy and Trinity aquifers and treated surface water purchased from the City of Fort Worth. 

Arlington Water’s two treatment plants have a combined capacity of 172.5 million gallons of water a day. Arlington Water Utilities has been a wholesale water provider to Dalworthington Gardens since 2016. The utility also recently signed an agreement to provide drinking water to the City of Kennedale once the needed infrastructure is complete.