The Challenge

Sweetwater Ranch is a 2,000-acre master-planned community expected to include approximately 1,600 to 1,700 single-family homes at full buildout. The property’s hard limestone, elevation changes, creeks, and tributaries made a traditional gravity sewer system difficult and expensive to construct. The original gravity design would require deep trenches—some more than 20 feet—and approximately 14 to 15 lift stations. Those lift stations would also have created additional inspection and maintenance demands for the system operator.

The Solution

Hydro Source and E/One helped bring an E/One pressure sewer system to the project as a more practical alternative for Sweetwater Ranch’s challenging terrain. Unlike traditional gravity sewer infrastructure, the pressure sewer system could be installed using shallower trenches. This helped reduce the need for extensive excavation through limestone and allowed the system to follow the property’s natural elevation changes more effectively.

The solution also eliminated all but one of the lift stations included in the original design, reducing the amount of infrastructure requiring ongoing inspection and maintenance.

Built for Demanding Conditions

The peaks and valleys throughout Sweetwater Ranch create higher-than-normal head conditions. E/One Extreme Series grinder pumps were selected because they are designed to operate under demanding conditions and can handle pressures as high as 185 feet of total dynamic head.

Each grinder pump collects wastewater from an individual property, grinds the waste, and moves it through a network of small-diameter pressure sewer lines. This approach provides flexibility in areas where rock, elevation changes, or other site conditions make conventional gravity sewer systems difficult to install.

A Smarter Approach to Wastewater Infrastructure

The Sweetwater Ranch project demonstrates how pressure sewer technology can help developers and engineers overcome some of Central Texas’ most common infrastructure challenges.

By working with E/One, Hydro Source helps communities evaluate sewer solutions that can:

• Minimize deep excavation and disruption
• Navigate difficult terrain and elevation changes
• Reduce the number of lift stations required
• Lower ongoing inspection and maintenance demands
• Support phased growth in developing communities

At Hydro Source, we work closely with engineers, developers, municipalities, and utility professionals to identify wastewater solutions suited to each project’s unique conditions.

Planning a development where rock, elevation, or distance makes traditional sewer infrastructure challenging? Contact Hydro Source to learn whether an E/One pressure sewer system may be a good fit for your project.

Project details were adapted from E/One’s Sweetwater Ranch case study.