Posted: Fri, 14 May 2010 08:09 AM - 12,714 Readers

By: James Walker

The City of Burnet has offered to significantly reduce the amount of treated wastewater it can discharge into Hamilton Creek in an attempt to win the support of the Lower Colorado River Authority.

The city plans to build a new wastewater and sewage treatment plant and has filed an application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to amend its discharge permit to increase its daily allowable amount from 700,000 to 1.7 million gallons.

The LCRA, the cities of Austin and Lakeway, the Protect Lake Travis Association and other entities are concerned about the effect the increased amount of discharge will have on Lake Travis and have filed a notice of intent with TCEQ to request a contested hearing.

Burnet Assistant City Manager David Vaughn said Thursday the city has sent LCRA a proposal that would reduce its daily allowable discharge of treated wastewater, or effluent, to about 1.1 million gallons per day, with some exceptions.

“We’ve sent them a proposal, but we haven’t heard back from them,” Vaughn said.