Ed Weaver is overseeing Tarrant Regional Water District’s largest infrastructure project and one of the most extensive undertakings like it in Texas to date. A 50-year employee who celebrated his milestone anniversary with TRWD on June 12, 2024, Ed serves as Integrated Pipeline Project (IPL) Program Manager.
The IPL is a joint-managed, 149-mile, $2.3 billion pipeline project in partnership with the City of Dallas, designed to deliver water from East Texas reservoirs to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. It’s an enormous undertaking, involving technical study, budgeting, scheduling, design, procurement, construction and commissioning activities for the IPL system. The project also involves environmental considerations, engineering, risk management, operations and maintenance, land management, finance/accounting, planning, legal, public and governmental relations, regulatory project permitting and control team functions. The current phases of the project started in 2009 and are targeted for completion by the end of 2027. The IPL Richland Chambers connection has recently started and is expected to be operational in the 2032-2035 timeframe.
While some people might consider retirement after a successful 50-year career, Ed says his plans are to stay right where he is, keeping everything rolling and taking the IPL to its conclusion.
Joining TRWD at age 18
Ed started with Tarrant Regional Water District after high school graduation. His first morning was spent on Trinity River trash patrol, but at break time, he was asked if he knew anything about welding. With four years of high school metal shop under his belt, Ed was recruited that day to help with grinding, finishing and cutting materials for projects in the welding shop.
He became interested in the Tarrant County College (then Tarrant County Junior College) welding and materials testing program and enrolled in classes, working days at TRWD and attending school at night.
Not only was school a great learning experience that he could put to use on the job, but Ed also met his future wife, Vicki, when he walked into the bursar’s office asking where to register. A long story short brought him back by her office later, the two ended up going for ice cream, and the rest is history. Their first date was in August 1974. Friendship blossomed into dating, into marriage, and today they have two kids and seven grandchildren. It was a classic case of “right place, right time,” Ed says.
Ed worked hard and learned a lot in the welding shop from two brothers, John and Kenneth Decker. He says there he learned about quality and getting every detail right. This strong work ethic has stayed with Ed all these years.
“It was very physical work,” Ed recalls. “There was no air conditioning or heat in the shop back then, and a lot of the work was done outside. As a young man, they really tested me, and I eventually won them over with my welding skills, determination, and some would say, hard-headedness.”
Gaining new experience, moving east
Four years later, Ed moved into construction inspections. He had studied drafting and had experience reading plans, so he was assigned to inspections for the Kennedale Balancing Reservoir expansion project. The facility – which stored water for Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield and the Trinity River Authority – was being expanded from one to two ground storage reservoirs, called cells. Today, the two cells are each capable of storing up to 150 million gallons of water for the cities that TRWD serves.
Ed has been involved in a range of other TRWD projects over the years. He helped manage welding inspections when the Cedar Creek pipeline system was expanded in 1979, and in 1980 assisted with welding inspection, construction inspection and system start-up
at the Waxahachie, Ennis and Cedar Creek booster pump stations.
By 1983, Ed and his wife had moved to East Texas so he could serve as engineering technician – managing contractor and consultant quality control – during construction of the Richland Chambers Reservoir dam and spillway. When construction on the Richland Chambers conveyance system began – consisting of a lake pump station, booster station and about 90 miles of 90-inch-diameter pipe – Ed managed inspections and was involved in construction management. Afterward, he helped manage operations and maintenance of the Richland Chambers and Cedar Creek pipeline systems.
Along the way, Ed continued night school, earning his associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial technology, along with various training certifications. He is currently working on a PhD in systems engineering.
Returning home
The Weaver family returned to the Fort Worth area in 1998 so Ed could work on the design, construction and operation of TRWD’s Benbrook and Eagle Mountain pipelines and pump stations.
Around 1996, TRWD Deputy General Manager Alan Thomas approached Ed with a special request. Each of the district’s pump stations were being staffed 24 hours a day, resulting in overtime costs that could be saved with the right solution. At the time, there were four system operational issues to address before remote, unattended operations could be achieved – control system, pump control valve timing, pipeline system flow balancing between lake and booster pump stations, and reliable communications.
Ed took on the assignment, designing the concept, configuration, start/stop control logic and programming for what’s called SCADA, a computer-based system that uses hardware and software to monitor, control and analyze industrial processes and devices.
To address the pump control valve timing issue, Ed designed, programmed and installed programmable logic controllers into the valve hydraulic circuit, allowing consistent pressure and flow, resulting in reliable and repeatable valve operation for both normal and power failure transient flow conditions.
For remote flow control, there were two options – throttling valves or pump speed. Ed researched the two options and determined that speed control with variable frequency drives (much like the operation of a light dimmer switch) was the most reliable choice and could provide a three-to-five-year payback in energy savings.
Finally, communications over TRWD’s new microwave system made the remote operations possible. At the time, only two of 99 channels were in use for interoffice communications. This work of Ed’s small team allowed all the pump stations to be managed remotely from one control center, advancing operations and saving costs in a major way. This was a significant achievement for the water district.
While much has changed over the years, the basics of this control system are still in place today – as is the solid relationship between Ed and his supervisor.
“I really appreciate that Alan gives me latitude and trusts me to do the right thing,” Ed says.
“When I joined TRWD as an 18-year-old, I really didn’t know what to expect and didn’t have a long-term plan. TRWD has taught me so much, has given me great opportunities and has turned me loose on new ideas. I’m fortunate to have that trust in what I do and to work with such great people.”
