Fort Worth has handed Ferrovial a $537.9 million contract to build the Mary’s Creek Water Reclamation Facility, a 10 million gallon per day wastewater plant on the city’s fast-growing west side. Construction is due to start this month, with completion targeted for summer 2030, two years later than the city’s original operating goal.
Ferrovial describes the award as its largest U.S. water infrastructure contract to date, and its Texas subsidiary Webber will deliver the plant. The job deepens the contractor’s ties with the same client: Webber is already expanding Fort Worth’s Eagle Mountain Water Treatment Plant by 35 million gallons per day under a $295 million contract awarded in 2025.
Why Has the Opening Slipped to 2030?
When the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality signed the plant’s discharge permit in August 2022, Fort Worth said it hoped to have Mary’s Creek running by summer 2028. A 2024 state funding list carried the same target, and older city material had pointed to a 2026 startup.
The permit itself was hard won. In May 2022, the City Council approved a settlement with the Tarrant Regional Water District and landowner Martha Leonard, under which Fort Worth accepted stricter treatment requirements to protect water quality downstream.
Under that deal, TRWD agreed to permit, design and build a diversion that captures flows in the Mary’s Creek channel below the plant and moves them into its raw water system for blending with supply from its lakes. Treated discharge from the facility will therefore become an indirect source of supply for the region.
Procurement came later than once planned. The city issued its call for competitive sealed proposals in late April 2026, and council authorized the construction contract with Webber Waterworks on August 25, according to the meeting agenda.
What Will the Plant Do?
Wastewater from the western service area currently travels to the Village Creek Water Reclamation Facility in east Fort Worth, which treats about 166 million gallons per day. Diverting western flows to a new plant relieves the collection lines feeding Village Creek and defers a costly expansion there, according to city and state filings.
At 10 million gallons per day, the first phase will handle enough water to fill roughly 15 Olympic swimming pools daily. State funding documents describe the site as expandable to 15 million gallons per day.
Webber’s scope covers equalization and peak flow storage basins, screening and grit removal, bioreactors using membrane bioreactor technology with advanced nutrient removal, solids handling, odor control, and the electrical, instrumentation and control systems that tie them together. A state accessibility registration lists eight buildings totaling about 94,700 square feet at 11091 Chapin Road.
Beyond treatment, the plant is meant to supply reclaimed water for industrial users and irrigation. Ignacio Gastón, chief executive of Ferrovial Construction, linked the project to the state’s population boom, saying that as Texas communities expand, “so does the need for reliable water infrastructure.”
Who Is Paying for It?
The largest single source is federal. In December 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WIFIA program committed a $348 million loan toward a wider Mary’s Creek program with total costs of $710 million, which also covers new lift stations and force mains. The agency estimates the program will serve 1.4 million people, support about 2,147 jobs and save the city nearly $13 million over the life of the loan.
Fort Worth has also authorized an application to the Texas Water Development Board for up to $60 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, and the project ranks eighth on the board’s 2026 priority list for that fund. The council’s August action also moved commercial paper appropriations into the project and allowed for reimbursement from future debt.
That state route places Mary’s Creek alongside other board-backed efforts to keep pace with North Texas growth. In July 2025, the board approved an $880 million SWIFT funding package for the North Texas Municipal Water District’s Phase 3 expansion, covering a second high service pump station at the Leonard Water Treatment Plant and two 84-inch raw water pipelines from Lake Texoma. The district has since sought proposals for the new pump station and expects the Texoma pipeline work to add about 90 million gallons per day of capacity by 2029.
Project Overview
- Project Name: Mary’s Creek Water Reclamation Facility
- Owner: City of Fort Worth Water Department
- Location: 11091 Chapin Road, west Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
- Project Type: Greenfield wastewater treatment and water reclamation plant
- Contract Value: $537.9 million
- Wider Program Cost: $710 million, including lift stations and force mains (EPA estimate)
- Capacity: 10 million gallons per day initially; expandable to 15 million gallons per day (TWDB filings)
- Treatment Technology: Membrane bioreactor with advanced nutrient removal
- Buildings: Eight buildings, about 94,700 sq ft
- Procurement: Competitive sealed proposals, issued April 2026
- Contract Authorized: August 25, 2026
- Construction Start: November 2026 (scheduled)
- Target Completion: Summer 2030
- Financing: $348 million EPA WIFIA loan; application for up to $60 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
- Population Served: 1.4 million (EPA estimate)
- Jobs: About 2,147 (EPA estimate)
Project Team
- Owner: City of Fort Worth Water Department
- Contractor: Webber
- Contractor Parent: Ferrovial
- Federal Lender: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, WIFIA Program
- State Financing Agency: Texas Water Development Board
- Discharge Permit Regulator: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
- Downstream Diversion Partner: Tarrant Regional Water District
- Design Engineer: Not publicly disclosed
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