by JENNIFER BIUNDO
Developers of a 1,400-home subdivision west of Buda are headed to mediation over a proposed sewer system that could discharge up to 300,000 gallons of treated wastewater daily over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.
Wastewater reuse, in which treated effluent serves a second life as irrigation, is emerging as a potential conservation tool to reduce the drain on water resources, especially in drought stricken areas such as Hays County. But local experts caution that if the system isn’t properly implemented, it could degrade drinking water quality by pulling contaminants into the environmentally sensitive aquifer, which is peppered with wells that supply water to area residents.
“We feel like it can be done correctly, but it’s just all very site specific,” said John Dupnik, an Environmental Permit Specialist with the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BS/EACD). “It has to be properly sited, properly designed and properly operated to get maximum attenuation of pollutants. It can actually be a real benefit, because water availability is an issue. If you’ve got highly treated effluent used in the appropriate way, it can be a resource for the community.”
The proposed development, currently dubbed Cantera Ranch, would bring almost 1,400 new homes to the 607-acre Hudson Ranch tract near Buda at RM 967, about three miles west of FM 1626, and immediately west of Ruby Ranch.
Developers Shaun Breedlove and Lee Weber of Jeremiah Venture, L.P., are seeking a “land application” permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to release treated wastewater onto 120 acres of the property.
The fight over the development has stretched on since 2008, when the city of Austin, Hays County, the BS/EACD, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and the Save Our Springs (SOS) Alliance filed for a contested case hearing with the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), opposing the permit on the grounds that it could degrade drinking water quality.
This spring, all parties agreed to try to work out a compromise in mediation, currently set for May 9.
“I think it’s progress that they’re willing to sit down and talk with everybody,” said Ed Peacock, an engineer with the City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department. “In their initial application they were willing to do more than most applicants.”
The developers say that their proposed system is safe, and tout the environmental benefits of water reuse. By treating wastewater to a safe standard and reusing it for irrigation, developers say they can minimize the drain on the region’s limited groundwater supplies.
“Obviously, we think there are benefits to reusing the water for irrigation,” said their attorney, Lance Lackey of the firm Barrett & Smith. “We’re in a drought right now. Given the high quality that the effluent is going to be treated to, assuming it can be used for irrigation purposes, that’s better than that water never being reused.”
A properly designed and managed land application system can use the soil system – minerals, microbes, organic material and underground pore spaces – to filter and dilute the contaminants, including nutrients, bacteria and traces of pharmaceutical drugs.
But in the aquifer recharge zone, creeks and sinkholes pull water rapidly back down into the underground limestone caverns, meaning that contaminants could re-enter the water supply.
All parties in the contested case hearing agreed to turn to an independent geologist, who would perform a site assessment of the property and try to identify recharge features that could present a danger.
The Hudson Ranch development represents something of a test case for TCEQ. Though similar wastewater reuse systems are in place in the area, it’s the first time that a large-scale residential development has sought permitting to discharge treated wastewater over the aquifer recharge zone.
“It would be the largest land application permit located over the recharge zone,” Dupnik said. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing. We feel like it can be done correctly. It really is about making sure it all stays on site, none of it gets into the creeks, and none of it gets into the aquifer.”
If the parties aren’t able to reach a resolution through mediation, they likely would return to litigation mode, Lackey said. A contested case hearing could be resolved by the end of the year.
The development would be served by LCRA’s West Travis County Water System which owns a pipeline along U.S. 290.
