Project Name: COA McNeil Drive Water Transmission Main 

Project Location: Austin, Travis County, Texas

Project Type: Karst Identification and Environmental Resource Inventory Information 

Owner: City of Austin/Black & Veatch Corporation

Hicks & Company identified karst features, including one cave and one sink feature, within the City of Austin McNeil Water Transmission Main project study area that is over the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regulated Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone (EARZ). The karst field survey involved the identification of any karst features in the project area that may be habitats for federally listed endangered cave invertebrates and or that provide a point of water recharge to the Edwards Aquifer. This project is less than a half mile away from Fossil Garden Cave and No Rent Cavern, which are known to house endangered species like the Bone Cave harvestman (Texella reyesi). Based on the geologic information, our professional geologists found a strong potential for large-size subsurface voids to be found within the project boundaries during construction. Therefore, Hicks & Company devised a list of possible cave and karst protective mitigation measures for if features are encountered during construction of the water line.