A long-awaited Texas Supreme Court decision has cleared the way for Dripping Springs to move forward with its wastewater treatment plan, Mayor Bill Foulds Jr. announced this week at the Dripping Springs Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon.
The high court ruled in favor of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the City in a dispute over wastewater permitting, affirming TCEQ’s authority to evaluate permit applications based on their overall environmental impact. The ruling ends a 12-year battle over the permit.
“This is a great day,” Foulds said to those attending. “We’re excited. I never thought I’d get choked up over talking about wastewater.”
The dispute centered on opposition claims that a reduction in dissolved oxygen level at the point of discharge constitutes degradation of water quality as a matter of law. TCEQ rules prohibit permitted discharges into high-quality waterbodies that would either
1) Disturb existing water uses or;
2) Degrade water quality.
TCEQ’s practice is to assess degradation of water quality on a whole water basis rather than affording decisive weight to numeric changes in individual water quality parameters.
The Supreme Court affirmed that TCEQ did not misread or misapply its rules in issuing the permit. The decision acknowledged that TCEQ’s practice of assessing degradation of water quality on a whole water basis, rather than affording decisive weight to numeric changes in individual water quality parameters, conforms to the antidegradation standards as written.
Foulds emphasized that although the city now holds a discharge permit, the current plan doesn’t include releasing wastewater into local waterways. Instead, the city has a plan for 27 million gallons of storage capacity and expects to reuse all of its treated water for irrigation in parks, golf courses, and green spaces.
“When you’re producing less than 800,000 gallons a day, and the golf course alone wants a million, it’s pretty clear we’re not going to be discharging,” Foulds said. “The majority of the treated effluent we are currently producing is being used to irrigate city parks and subdivision green space areas that would otherwise be using drinking water or groundwater for irrigation.”
The permit will eventually allow the city to eliminate the need for up to three other wastewater treatment plants that had been approved for surrounding subdivisions, including Village Grove, Big Sky, and the Heritage Subdivision.
“That’s good for everyone,” Foulds said. “If we can handle this regionally, it saves money and it’s better for the environment.”
Still, challenges remain. Due to project delays, the city must return to the Texas Water Development Board to request an additional $51 million in funding on top of a $43 million loan secured in 2019. Design work is nearly complete, and Foulds said bid packets should go out by mid-summer. Initial improvements are expected on the west side of town, with eventual benefits planned for downtown and the east side as funding allows.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Foulds said. “But we’re moving forward.” The city has scheduled a follow-up meeting next Monday to review the next steps and assess financial constraints with project teams.