By Todd Purcell, Mayor of Dripping Springs
I’ve lived in Dripping Springs much of my life. It’s my home. My kids have grown up here; my family planted roots on Onion Creek decades ago. I am fiercely protective of our city and our natural resources.
I also have the privilege of serving as mayor, a job I take very seriously. We are a tight-knit community, but one that is growing rapidly. With that growth comes significant responsibility and the need to make difficult decisions. Hays County’s population has increased by 60 percent in the last 10 years. Substantial development is already underway in the area with more anticipated. Major employers are moving to our community bringing quality jobs and substantial growth in tax base for the City.
We must have infrastructure in place to care for those already in Dripping Springs and to accommodate future growth. Nowhere is that more apparent than with our wastewater capacity needs.
My intent with today’s editorial is to provide context to the challenges the City faces in regard to this issue and what we’re doing to address it. My hope is that the ongoing discussion is guided by the facts, because it’s critical we get it right.
Two things are clear to me and the City Council when it comes to wastewater: 1) We cannot stick our heads in the sand when dealing with the growth that’s coming our way and what it necessitates; and 2) The City has no intention of doing anything that harms Onion Creek.
Protecting our quality of life is precisely why the City is working to address our wastewater needs now. We want to ensure the natural environment that makes Dripping Springs so appealing is here for generations to come. We will do that by smart and proactive planning, which sometimes requires making those difficult, but necessary decisions.
A decade ago, our City leaders recognized the need to address our growing wastewater challenges. Since that time we have done much work and met with numerous experts, business and community leaders to discuss potential impacts. We initiated a thorough evaluation of our wastewater capacity, led by CMA Engineering, and examined the issue from a variety of angles – financial, environmental, sustainability and community impact. Our research also looked at a number of disposal options, including spray irrigation, drip irrigation (our current disposal method), discharge and beneficial reuse. After all of this analysis, we were prepared to submit a discharge application permit two years ago.
Despite the City Council’s readiness to file for a permit at that time, we have since had interest from a local landowner who funded a study to explore the concept of direct potable reuse (DPR), which would allow the City to treat and reuse treated effluent to augment its drinking water supply. It is certainly a forward-looking idea worthy of continued consideration and fully supported by the City Council. There are currently substantial obstacles associated with this particular method, but I hope it demonstrates our commitment to leaving no stone unturned in our due diligence and working collaboratively with community members.
So, where are we today? After thorough evaluation and discussion, we support beneficial reuse of treated effluent for irrigation in parks and open areas, crop irrigation, makeup water for storm water quality ponds, construction water, and possibly for direct potable reuse in the future. We have had conversations with several developers in the area, including Caliterra, among others, that have agreed to accept our treated effluent for reuse at their respective developments. The City also convened, with the City of Austin, a regional wastewater-planning group to evaluate options for additional wastewater treatment, disposal methods and permitting alternatives.
Notwithstanding these efforts, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) still requires us to obtain a discharge permit or a land application permit for compliance. The challenge with the land application permit, however, is the cost associated with the amount of land needed to acquire as a result of our proposed expansion. Under the current TCEQ land application permit rules, the City would be required to purchase or enter into long- term leases with property owners, and build large land application systems for the entire amount of its permitted capacity, regardless of how much treated effluent is being used for beneficial reuse. It is also important to mention that these land application systems are expensive to operate and maintain. Not only must we act in a manner that protects the environment, but one that protects our taxpayers as well.
Some in the community say we should hit the “pause button” and wait for changes to be made to the regulatory framework within the TCEQ. This “pause button” has already been hit for several years. Huge risks are associated with continuing to wait, and there are no guarantees. Our city faces a significant need today, one that will only continue to intensify.
We are not taking the easy way out, and we are not rushing into anything hastily. Based on the realities our community faces and the exhaustive analysis the City has conducted, we plan to move forward with as much beneficial reuse as possible, which still requires a discharge permit, or a land application permit. In fact, the City is already building treated effluent lines that would allow for beneficial reuse and is negotiating for more. We risk too much by waiting on a change at the TCEQ, and the changes that are being proposed will not likely eliminate the need to discharge.
As a final note, I want to be clear that a discharge permit does not turn Onion Creek into a “sewage disposal site” by any means. A majority of the cities throughout the state, including the City of Austin and other surrounding cities dispose of their treated effluent by discharging treated effluent into our streams, creeks and rivers. Many people who are concerned about water resources want these discharges because it supplements critically needed water supply by returning the water to the watershed.
These are precisely the tough, but necessary decisions facing the community we all love.
