The US-380 Corridor Boom: Utility Capacity Planning for Prosper, Celina, Anna, and Melissa Ahead of the Rooftops

Who supplies water along the corridor?

It depends on the town. Here is what each supplier and city publishes:

• Prosper and Melissa are customer cities on NTMWD's water system list, buying treated water under contract with the district.
• Anna appears on the same page as an indirect customer. Anna's water page says the city blends groundwater from seven city wells with NTMWD surface water bought from the Greater Texoma Utility Authority, and that about 65 percent now comes from surface water.
• Celina is not on NTMWD's lists. Celina's utility operations page says the city buys treated water from the Upper Trinity Regional Water District.

Within each town, a parcel can still sit in another retail provider's service area. NTMWD's customer list includes special utility districts and water supply corporations as well as cities.

Who treats the wastewater?

Two regional systems, and Prosper uses both. On NTMWD's wastewater system page, Melissa and Prosper are regional wastewater system members and Anna is a regional system customer.

UTRWD's Doe Branch Water Reclamation Plant, rated at 4.0 million gallons per day, treats wastewater for Celina, Prosper, Mustang Special Utility District and Denton County Fresh Water Supply District No. 10. Which system your flow reaches depends on the basin your parcel drains to and the city's collection system, so ask the city.

Why does capacity change so fast here?

Because the regional plants are catching up to growth. NTMWD's case for its Sister Grove Regional Water Resource Recovery Facility was that more than 700,000 people in its northern service area relied on two existing plants, and that projected growth would exceed the facilities serving Collin County in the very near future. Sister Grove's Phase II construction, to 32 million gallons per day, began in September 2025.

UTRWD's water reclamation projects page says Phase 3 at Doe Branch, begun in 2025, raises capacity from 4 to 12 million gallons per day, with completion expected in mid to late 2028.

A capacity answer from a year ago reflects the projects approved since then only if someone updated it. Ask for a current answer in writing, and ask how the city reserves capacity.

Who holds the certificate for your parcel?

Check the map, not the city limit line. Under Texas Water Code §13.242, utilities and water supply corporations need a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) to provide retail water or sewer service, and any retail provider, a city or district included, needs one to serve an area another retail provider already lawfully serves. The Public Utility Commission's CCN mapping resources let you search by address.

On this corridor, providers include special utility districts as well as cities, so a parcel inside a town can still be certificated to someone else. Our post on CCN territory disputes in Collin County covers release and decertification.

Does the US-380 widening affect your utilities?

It can, through relocations. UTRWD says it is relocating its own infrastructure to accommodate TxDOT road expansions along U.S. Highway 380. A site fronting the highway should confirm which mains are moving, where, and when. We cover US-380 bypass utility relocations and TxDOT coordination separately.

When does private treatment make sense on the corridor?

Rarely without a strong case. TCEQ's regionalization policy asks permit applicants to contact permitted plants and collection systems within three miles and, where one can take the flow, compare the cost of connecting with building and running a new plant. With two regional systems expanding here, that comparison is the core of any private plant application.

A temporary plant for early phases, with a planned connection later, can still work. Write the connection route and the plant's retirement into the plan from the start, and check the city's own rules first.

How does capacity timing hit phasing and impact fees?

The law ties fee collection to service. Under Texas Local Government Code Chapter 395, Section 395.019, a city may assess but not collect water or wastewater impact fees where service is not available, with three exceptions.

• The city commits to start the improvement within two years and have service available within five.
• The owner builds or finances the improvement and gets credits or reimbursement.
• The owner and city sign a written agreement to reserve capacity.

Each of those is a phasing decision. If later phases depend on a plant or trunk line still under construction, model the lot release schedule against that timeline before you price the land.

Is your corridor site ready to close?

Ready means every answer below is yes.

1. Do you know the water and sewer CCN holder for the parcel from the PUC map?
2. Do you have a written capacity answer from that provider at your connection point?
3. Do you know which regional system treats your flow, and its expansion timeline?
4. Have you checked fire flow at the site with the provider's current model or test data?
5. Are any US-380 relocations near your frontage identified?
6. Have offsite extensions, easements and lift station needs been scoped?
7. Does the phasing plan match the capacity timeline, with a reservation agreement if one is available?

A note on limits: this is general education from NTMWD, UTRWD, city and state sources as of October 2026. Supplier lists and expansion schedules change, and service area lines are parcel specific, so confirm each answer for your site.

Frequently asked questions

Is utility capacity similar across Prosper, Celina, Anna and Melissa?

No. They buy water from different wholesale arrangements and send wastewater to different regional plants, so the constraint on one town's parcel can be a plant, a trunk line or a supply contract in another's.

I'm a developer under contract on 80 acres off US-380 near Celina, and the seller says sewer is available. What should I get in writing before the option period ends?

The provider's name and CCN status for the parcel, the connection point, the capacity it will commit and on what terms, and whether service depends on the Doe Branch expansion. A verbal yes from a seller is not a capacity commitment.

Can a city collect impact fees if it cannot serve us yet?

Generally not for water and wastewater, unless one of the Section 395.019 exceptions applies, such as a construction commitment, a credit or reimbursement deal, or a capacity reservation agreement.

I'm the land planner for a 1,200-lot community east of Anna. Can we phase the plat so early lots open before regional capacity arrives?

That can work if the early phases fit capacity available today and the city agrees in writing. Tie each phase's lot count to the capacity committed for it, and keep the later phases contingent on the regional project's completion.

Related resources

• McKinney Utility Availability Study: What Developers Need Before Submitting a Plat in Collin County's Fastest Growing City
• NTMWD Connection vs. Private Treatment: The McKinney Developer's Guide to Choosing the Right Wastewater Path
• Impact Fees and CIP Timing: Why Phasing Costs Blindside Developers When the Capital Improvement Plan Schedule Does Not Match Their Build Out
• Water Storage and Pressure Zone Design for McKinney's Rolling Terrain: Engineering for Collin County Topography

Buying land on the US-380 corridor before capacity is confirmed?

We find out who serves the parcel, what they can commit and when, and what you will have to build, before the option period runs out.

We specialize in:

• Site feasibility and utility due diligence
• Utility service requests and capacity coordination with providers
• Water distribution modeling and fire flow analysis
• Wastewater collection and lift station design
• Private wastewater treatment design and TCEQ permitting
• Site civil design for land development

Modern Engineering Solutions, McKinney, Texas. Contact: (214) 833-6748 or mod-eng.com