Councilmember Chris Riley and Mayor Lee Leffingwell are crapping all over a plan by the Cities of Leander and Granite Shoals to discharge treated sewage, or effluent (pronounced "eff-you-uhnt"), into the Highland Lakes, including Lake Travis and Lake Austin. Lake Austin is currently the sole source of drinking water in Austin and the newly approved water treatment plant will draw from Lake Travis. Other council members will decide on Thursday whether to join them in opposition. The Lower Colorado River Authority and Travis County have already indicated that they are opposed to the new plan.

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rules currently prohibit new treated waste water effluent discharges into any of the Highland Lakes. LCRA predicts considerable degradation of water quality in the Highland Lakes if new discharges are authorized. Most of the fecal matter is removed from treated waste water (unless there is a malfunction or it rains), but other contaminants remain - notably pharmaceuticals.

Austin currently discharges its water downstream into the Colorado River, but there are no public drinking water supply intakes on the Colorado River downstream of Austin.

Repealing the rules would allow the cities of Leander and Granite Shoals to grow more easily and cheaply by bringing down the cost of treating sewage, according to their TCEQ petition. However, it would impose more costs on Austinites to treat the water to remove contaminants before drinking it.