Corix Utilities of Texas, Inc. Application for 10-fold Increase in Discharge to Colorado River
January 24, 2024
BACKGROUND
Location of Corix/McKinney Roughs Wastewater Treatment Plant. (click on image to enlarge)
The Corix Utilities (Texas) Inc. applied to the TCEQ for a major amendment to TPDES Permit No. WQ0013977001 to authorize an increase in the discharge of treated domestic wastewater from a daily average flow not to exceed 0.05 million gallons per day (MGD) to a daily average flow not to exceed 0.51 MGD. The permit application for a major amendment was received on July 29, 2022, and declared administratively complete on August 31, 2022. The existing wastewater treatment facility serves the McKinney Roughs Learning Center and the Bastrop ISD Cedar Creek High School. The service area increase is intended to accommodate approximately 2,082 living unit equivalents (LUE) of mixed use residential and commercial properties. The treated effluent is discharged to an unnamed tributary, thence to the Colorado River Below Lady Bird Lake/Town Lake in Segment No. 1428 of the Colorado River Basin. The unclassified receiving water use is minimal aquatic life use for the unnamed tributary. The designated uses for Segment No. 1428 are primary contact recreation, public water supply, and exceptional aquatic life use.
Environmental Stewardship has opposed the expansion of the water treatment plant and the disposal of the treated effluent into the Colorado River by providing comments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on three occasions. Written comments were timely filed on March 4, 2023, and May 28, 2023 and oral comments were provided at a public meeting held on June 1, 2023.
The Executive Director of TCEQ, Kelly Keel, published her decision on the permit and responses to public comments along with instructions for requesting reconsideration and/or a contested case hearing on the permit application on August 7, 2023, The Executive Director decided that the permit application meet the requirements of applicable law and advised that the decision does not authorize construction or operation of any proposed facilities. The decision was to be considered by the commissioners at a regularly scheduled public meeting before any action is taken on this application unless all requests for contested case hearing or reconsideration have been withdrawn before that meeting. The Executive Director also provided Response to Public Comment (RTC).
Since the issues raised by Environmental Stewardship in its public comments were not resolved by the Executive Director’s responses, Environmental Stewardship requested a Contested Case Hearing and Reconsideration of the Corix application on September 6, 2023. Included with our requests was a comprehensive deficiency review of the Executive Directors responses to its public comments. In response to our request for a contested case hearing, on January 12, 2023, the Executive Director recommended that that the Commission find that Environmental Stewardship is an affected person and grant our hearing request. A final decision by the Commission will be made at its February 7, 2024, public meeting.
On January 29, 2024, Environmental Stewardship filed a response to the Executive Director requesting that the Commissioners also grant that Chap Ambrose also be recognized as an affected person based on his recreational use of the Colorado River and be granted a contested case hearing.
WE ARE WAITING FOR THE COMMISSIONS’ DECISION DUE FEBRUARY 7, 2024.
DOCUMENTS
Corix TPDES Permit No. W0013977001 Permit Application
Environmental Stewardship Comments filed March 4, 2023
Environmental Stewardship Comments filed May 28, 2023
TCEQ Executive Director’s Decision and Response to Public Comments (RTC) published August 7, 2023
Environmental Stewardship’s Request for Contested Case Hearing filed September 6, 2023
TCEQ Executive Director’s Recommendations to the Commission regarding Contested Case Hearings published January 12, 2024
Environmental Stewardship Response to the Executive Director requesting Chap Ambrose be recognized and granted a CCH, January 29, 2024
Is the Colorado River an Exceptional Aquatic-Life Use Waterway? An Analysis of Data from the TCEQ Database by Michael C.MacLeod, PH.D. 1/21/2024