Letters – Reader draws attention to TCEQ hearing

To the Editor:

Attention Concerned Citizens and those with questions about water, please attend upcoming public meeting.

Walton Texas L.P., an international corporation, owning roughly 8,000 acres in Caldwell County, has plans for at least three or four major subdivisions. Where do they plan do get their water? We all know that water is a limited commodity. Yet t

his firm has applied for three private permits for wastewater plants to service these developments with the treated effluent to go into our local creeks.

A public hearing by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will be held this coming Tuesday, March 26th at 7 p.m. at Lockhart City Hall, 308 W. San Antonio St. Any persons owning property on Clear Fork Creek, concerned county citizens and office holders are urged to attend.

This meeting is to discuss the first phase of their projects, located at Highway 21 and FM 2720, proposed to discharge 700,000 gallons a day into Clear Fork Creek. It is projected for 2,800 homes. After a percentage of that discharged is reached, the firm can apply for a larger permit.

Another permit is pending a few miles away at the intersection of CR 229 and CR 230. This discharge into Clear Fork Creek is 1,550,000 gallons a day. A third pending permit is planned for SH 130 and Hwy 21. Plans are also underway for a development in Martindale at Hwy 142 and Hwy 80.

This may turn out to be good for our county but there is much we don’t know. Questions should be asked. The company only puts in infrastructure and then leaves. They do not operate the wastewater facility. At this time, they are proposing to reuse the water on their parklands. That will only go so far – if that really happens. If the permit is approved, they will have the legal ability to discharge these amounts into our waterways.

The meeting is composed of two parts. The Informal part is where comments and questions submitted won’t be considered before a decision is reached on the permit application. Please stay for the second part, the Formal part, if you want your comment to be considered before a decision is reached on the permit application. Comments in both parts may be made orally. A copy of the written response on the Formal part made by the TCEQ will be sent to each person who submits a Formal comment or who request to be on the mailing list.

If you have been contacted this last week by someone from this company who has reached out to try and answer your questions, I urge you to still attend this meeting and voice your concerns to the Texas regulatory agency. It was nice of the company to call but you still need to meet with your community and the regulatory body that oversees the permitting of wastewater plants.

Further information may be obtained from the TCEQ at (800) 687-4040.

Sallie Ann Satagaj

Lockhart