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#7 Dripping Springs wastewater discharge permit reversed

A Texas district court has ruled the City of Dripping Springs can not discharge treated wastewater into Onion Creek. The ruling was handed down on Thursday, October 29, when District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble reversed the discharge permit issued to the city by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) commissioners. The discharge permit was issued on February 27, 2019, to allow the city to begin the expansion of its wastewater treatment plant and address the area’s growing wastewater needs.

However, the Save Our Springs Alliance (SOS) filed a lawsuit against TCEQ claiming the permit violated a subset of Texas’s water quality standards that apply to Onion Creek. According to a statement from SOS, their suit challenged the approved permit based on violations of the Clean Water Act and was centered around three separate points: (1) that the proposed discharge would violate the Act’s antidegradation rule, which is intended to protect highquality streams, such as Onion Creek; (2) that the proposed discharge would harm existing aquatic life; and (3) that the public notices of the proposed discharge point were woefully inadequate.

Following a hearing and arguments on both sides, Judge Gamble found last week that TCEQ’s order approving the city’s wastewater discharge permit is not supported by the law or substantial evidence and should be reversed.

"This ruling should put an end to any new discharges into Texas Hill Country streams,” said Save Our Springs Alliance Executive Director Bill Bunch.

In moving forward, city officials said they are looking at all options, including an appeal.

“While the district court’s decision certainly is disappointing, we are confident in our ability to move forward,” says Dripping Springs Mayor Bill Foulds, Jr. “The city is doing everything in its power to accommodate the wastewater needs of our growing community in the most environmentally sensitive manner possible.”

According to the city, while the permit is required to expand the treatment plant, the city has always had significant plans for beneficial reuse and has even committed itself by contract to assuring a robust beneficial reuse program.

“SOS refuses to acknowledge the city’s contractual commitments that will minimize if not eliminate the possibility of an actual discharge,” Foulds said. “Despite the added costs and time associated with having to appeal this decision prompted by SOS’s involvement, the city is committed to providing superior wastewater service to its citizens in a timely manner and in a way that allows it to reuse the effluent. The TCEQ Permit is one aspect of the expansion. We will continue to push forward on all aspects of our South Regional Water Reclamation Expansion Project.”

Dripping Springs Century-News

P.O. Box 732
Dripping Springs, Texas 78620

Phone: (512) 858-4163
Fax: (512) 847-9054