Posted: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:50 PM - 8,858 Readers
By: Jay Root
State environmental officials will consider a proposal this week to
allow millions of gallons of treated sewage to be dumped into several
popular central Texas lakes, angering some waterfront property owners,
elected officials and environmentalists. The plan, up for
preliminary consideration Wednesday at the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality, would lift a 23-year-old ban on discharges of
effluent into the Highland Lakes, which provide drinking water to more
than a million people.
The cities of Leander and Granite
Shoals asked the state to lift the ban in part because it's cheaper to
dump the waste in the lakes rather than use it for irrigation or other
land-based applications.
Proponents of the plan say the
plants will help foster economic growth, that "reclaimed" water from
sewage treatment plants is safe and that it will help refill lakes that
have been stressed by a blistering drought.
Granite Shoals,
located on the shores of Lake LBJ west of Austin, could save $4 million
by discharging its effluent into the lake rather than installing the
infrastructure needed for land-based wastewater treatment, according to
city Mayor Frank Reilly. Reilly called it an environmentally wise use of the treated sewage because it would go back into the water supply.
"It reuses something valuable, which is in short supply," he said. "It stops the waste of the water."
But
opponents of the proposal, including affected property owners, several
Austin-area legislators, the Sierra Club and the Lower Colorado River
Authority — which sells water from the lakes — say the added waste
would ruin the pristine water.
Ray Gay, 75, said he's already thinking about moving away if the TCEQ lifts the ban, which could take up to a year or longer.
Gay
pumps his household water, up a long snaking pipe, straight from Lake
Travis on the edge of his property. Using minimal filtration and
reverse osmosis treatment, he and his wife Barbara drink it, bathe in
it and wash their dishes with it. When the grandkids come over, they
swim in it, too.
"No matter how much they treat it, it
still changes the way the water tastes. They can't take everything out
of it," said Gay, who lives in the tiny Village of Volente on the
shores of Lake Travis. "I think I would want to move from here."
The
Highland Lakes, spread across a wide expanse of the Texas Hill Country
near Austin, include Lakes Travis, Austin, Buchanan, Marble Falls, Inks
and LBJ.
The state prohibited the discharge of wastewater
effluent, the liquid byproduct of raw sewage treatment, into the lakes
in 1986. A handful of existing plants in operation at the time were
exempted from the rule and discharge relatively modest amounts into the
lakes.
A single wastewater plant is allowed to discharge
6,000 gallons a day into Lake Travis, according to the LCRA. If the ban
is lifted, 33 additional plants would be allowed to discharge up to 7
million gallons a day into the lake, whose clear waters are a big draw
for scuba divers, fishermen and recreational boaters, river authority
figures show.
The LCRA said the wastewater would change the
character of the water without doing much for the overall water levels.
It would add just five inches to Lake Travis, which is about 33 feet
below full.
Meanwhile, water quality experts say the
effluent has high amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen, elements that
can't be cheaply removed from human waste. These "nutrients" will cause
algae blooms, decreasing water clarity and creating odor and taste
issues for the drinking public, they say.
"It looks bad, it
smells bad and it makes the water cloudy," said Lonnie Moore, president
of the Protect Lake Travis Association. "It would certainly dampen your
enthusiasm for drinking it or swimming in it."
Three TCEQ
commissioners appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry will decide the
fate of the request to lift the effluent ban. Staffers at the TCEQ, the
state's lead environmental agency, are recommending that the issue
undergo further study by a special panel of interested parties in the
region.
Even if the commissioners give a preliminary green
light to lifting the ban on Wednesday, it would take months or longer
to implement new rules and conduct public hearings, officials say.
