San Marcos Record, San Marcos, TX

Local News

February 17, 2009

Sink Creek project back on city agenda

By Anita Miller

San Marcos — A discussion of the Sink Creek Interceptor wastewater line, an item tabled by the San Marcos City Council at its Feb. 3 meeting, is back on today’s agenda.

Tom Taggart, director of Water and Wastewater, said the discussion is intended to bring council members up to speed on the project, and to address concerns some residents have voiced.

The gravity line, which will eventually go all the way to LBJ and Craddock Avenue and replace up to three lift stations, was scheduled to be complete by Feb. 5, said Interim Director of Capital Improvements Sabas Avila.

However, it has been delayed for up to two months because contractors used an inferior type of pipe that will have to be replaced, he said.

“The contractor deviated from the specifications,” Taggart said, using a Class F pipe with thinner walls. “They didn’t comply with what we specified. The city has informed them they will need to dig that up and replace it.”

He said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has issued a notice of violation regarding the quality of pipe.

San Marcos River Foundation (SMRF) Executive Director Dianne Wassenich, during the public comment period of the Feb. 3 meeting, said news that inferior pipe had been used added “dread” to concern about cracks and leaks.

Should the line develop a leak, she said, “You would never see evidence of leaking sewage on the surface in this area, the sewage would go straight down into the rock cavities of the recharge zone” of the Edwards Aquifer.

Wassenich had urged the council to consider another route for the line, citing the fact that Sink Creek drains to Spring Lake and the San Marcos River.

She said dirt from the project’s trenching has already poured into Sink Creek.

“The trench surface sank several times and was filled again by the contractor, very quickly after the few brief rains we have had in the past year and a half. The reason this is so serious to us is that it indicates that the gravel bed is moving around under the pipe, perhaps because the trench cut into cavities or caves that are common in the recharge zone,” Wassenich said.

Taggart said the project has “been a challenge,” but that, “at last, reportedly, things are going to get better.”

Avila said the gravity line is preferable to lift stations because the latter are more susceptible to overflow. “Lift stations require electrical and mechanical parts to operate,” he said. Problems arise when any of those components fail.

Discussion of the item by the city council will begin at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

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