GREY FOREST, Texas – Bexar county residents are sharing their disappointment over a wastewater project they’ve spent months fighting against.
A newly approved permit gives the green light for a wastewater treatment plant that would go in the Northwest part of the county.
Neighbors have been arguing against it for months — saying it could change everything, adding all of Bexar County should be paying attention.
The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality.. Or (TCEQ) approved the permit citizens have fought hard against.
“The issuance of this permit was not protective of enough of our Edwards Aquifer water supplies,” said Annalisa Peace. “We have been fighting the issuance of this permit for the last three years.”
The proposed wastewater treatment plant will go in the Guajalote Ranch development by Lennar Homes. The developer is expected to bring thousands of new homes to the area.
“I think this type of development that Lennar wants to do, is totally inappropriate for that area,” Peace said. “We need affordable housing. But, for this development in this location, it’s not consistent with the current land uses in that area.”
Annalisa Peace is the Executive Director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance. She and others are specifically fighting to protect the aquifer and nearby water systems.
“TCEQ has approved the permit to discharge up to a million gallons of effluent from a wastewater facility, per day, into a dry creek bed [in] the upper reach of Helotes Creek.”
Dr. Ronald Green is a retired hydrologist who lives in Helotes. He’s spent years studying the Edwards Aquifer — saying that’s where wastewater will end up; meaning it could affect your drinking water as well.
“There’s no benefit,” Green said. “At some point, if development gets at such a level that the recharge is degraded — the aquifer is going to be degraded.”
Green says it’ll change the water as we know it for the more than a million people that rely on the aquifer.
“That is an endangered resource,” he said. “Unless actions are taken to protect the resource, it’s going to suffer.”
Advocates are calling for changes to TCEQ’s policies in these situations.
“When it comes to protecting the aquifer with their Edward’s rules, we do not believe that those rules are sufficiently protective,” Peace said. We really urge them to work with us to create new rules.”
In Wednesday’s meeting, TCEQ’s chair, Brooke Paup, said the agency’s evaluation finds the draft permit is protective and meets applicable requirements.
Peace said she believes groups will contest the decision in district court.