Three years after issuing its RFI, the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) expects to select a private supplier for 50,000 ac-ft a year of groundwater under a 30-year performance-based contract this January. If the selected provider is approved by the city council, it will be the first take-or-pay agreement signed by a major city in the U.S. for new groundwater.

“If San Antonio decides to do this, it’s certainly going to open some eyes,” says Michael Irlbeck, business development director for Abengoa Water in Austin. The Spanish company is competing against two regional groups that were shortlisted in July 2011 from a list of nine regional companies that were prequalified late in 2010.