About Us
The Southlake Department of Public Works consists of five divisions: Administration and Engineering, Streets and Drainage, Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Utility. The five divisions work together within the Department to provide construction and maintenance of critical infrastructure for Southlake residents. The services provided by Public Works serve as the behind the scenes functions necessary to make the City a viable place to live.
The Department is responsible for reviewing all engineering designs for roadways, waterlines, sanitary sewer lines, and stormwater lines for all new residential and commercial developments in the City. The department manages a five year $36.5M capital improvements program, procures and distributes the City's potable water, manages the City's wastewater collection, and maintains the City's streets, roadside ditches and waterways. In addition, the Department oversees numerous contracts for services and interlocal agreements with neighboring cities.
Administration and Engineering Division
The Administration and Engineering division oversees the planning, engineering design, and construction of the City's Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Staff identifies needed projects to improve and maintain streets, construct water lines to increase system capacity, rehabilitate existing infrastructure and address drainage issues, construct sanitary sewer lines, and construct trails and sidewalks. Staff also reviews and approves all engineering design plans for new residential and commercial developments. The City Engineer and Civil Engineers review design plans for compliance with Public Works ordinances, standard construction details, State and Federal laws, and sound engineering practices. The Administration and Engineering Division also negotiates Interlocal Agreements with neighboring cities for services, and oversees a variety of contracts; such as contracts with utilities for water, and contracts with cellular providers for lease space on City water towers.
Operations - Streets and Drainage Division
The Public Works Streets and Drainage division maintains all of Southlake's streets. This division is responsible for concrete street repair and asphalt street overlay. Activities include asphalt patching and resurfacing, crack sealing, pothole patching, and grading of unpaved streets. The division addresses issues with roadside signage, street curb and gutter, street medians, traffic signals, and sidewalks. This division also performs drainage system repairs and upkeeps bar ditches, culverts and channels to enhance stormwater flow. Citywide mosquito larva control is also among this division's many duties.
Operations - Water Division
The Public Works Water division manages the daily operations of Southlake's potable water distribution system consisting of three major pump stations capable of processing over 50,000,000 gallons of water daily, ground and elevated storage tanks with capacities totaling 20,000,000 gallons of water daily, 240 miles of distribution pipe lines (ranging in size from 6 to 42 inches), 2,400 fire hydrants and 5,000 valves city-wide. This water distribution system provides drinking water for over 8,900 customers daily. Staff also installs new water taps, repairs water mains, and installs and replaces residential and commercial water meters. The water division also takes water samples at new construction sites, and conducts Bac-T samples for compliance with TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) requirements.