AUSTIN \u2013\u00a0The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) has recognized Austin Water\u00a0staff\u00a0at the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant for a sixth consecutive year of outstanding regulatory compliance and environmental protection with the 2026 Platinum Peak Performance Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The award is NACWA’s highest tier of recognition\u00a0for\u00a0compliance with Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). After\u00a0earning the award\u00a0in 2025, plant staff\u00a0maintained\u00a0another year of 100% compliance to\u00a0receive\u00a0Platinum Award\u00a0status again\u00a0in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Six years of\u00a0flawless\u00a0compliance\u00a0speaks to the exceptional commitment of our staff to protecting public health and the environment,” said Austin Water Director Shay Ralls Roalson. “Austin Water is proud to lead the way, and I’m grateful for the Walnut Creek team’s\u00a0constant\u00a0pursuit of\u00a0excellence.”<\/p>\n
Eligibility for the\u00a0award requires\u00a0frequent\u00a0water quality monitoring and strict adherence to reporting deadlines.\u00a0Austin’s wastewater treatment plants produce high-quality treated effluent regulated by discharge permits and water quality standards set by the TCEQ.\u00a0At\u00a0the\u00a0Walnut Creek\u00a0plant,\u00a0treated\u00a0effluent\u00a0is discharged\u00a0into the Colorado River downstream of Austin, and Austin Water takes pride in consistently exceeding the water quality requirements\u00a0established\u00a0by its state permits to support\u00a0the health of the waterway.<\/p>\n
“This award belongs to the operators, engineers and lab staff who show up every day and get the details right,” said Agmed Weber, manager of operations for wastewater treatment at Walnut Creek.<\/p>\n
Austin Water recently celebrated the groundbreaking of a $1.5 billion expansion and modernization<\/a> for the Walnut Creek plant, a project increasing treatment capacity from 75 million to 100 million gallons per day to meet the needs of Austin’s growing population.\u00a0The facility will continue normal treatment operations throughout the construction process, which is currently scheduled for completion in 2031.<\/p>\n In addition to its expanded\u00a0treatment\u00a0capacity, the\u00a0plant will also be upgraded with an ultraviolet disinfection system improving safety for workers and the community by removing the need for chlorine gas, advanced treatment technology to reduce nutrients that contribute to algae growth and a flood wall to protect the facility during extreme weather \u2014 all part of Austin Water’s commitment to environmental stewardship and protecting the Colorado River.<\/p>\n About Austin Water<\/p>\n Austin Water provides safe, reliable, high quality, sustainable and affordable water services that have met the community\u2019s needs for over 100 years. Austin Water serves over 1 million people in the Austin metropolitan area across more than 538 square miles. As Austin continues to evolve, our mission remains the same: To provide water for people and care for the environment. For more information visit\u00a0austinwater.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN \u2013\u00a0The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) has recognized Austin Water\u00a0staff\u00a0at the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-379710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}