LETTER TO THE EDITOR
We have many large mass production subdivision projects looming in the Texas Hill Country. In Canyon Lake, Fischer, TX, we have a permit requested by Lennar Homes to pump 600,000 gallons of effluent into the designated premier drinking water reservoir of Bexar, Comal and Kendall counties. Canyon Lake and the entire watershed are waters of Texas. The proposed permit area also sits on the Trinity-Edwards Aquifer Plateau, drinking water source for even more counties and human hearts of Texas.
In 1989, the Texas water commission banned all wastewater effluent from being released into the Highland Lakes and their watersheds to protect the waters of Texas, Lake Travis, the drinking water reservoir for Austin. Texas regulators drew a firm line to protect the Highland Lakes, recognizing that protection was necessary and that dilution was not a safeguard for long-term water quality. It was also noted that pollutants in effluent, even at legally allowed limits, will stack in reservoirs, and that the waters of Texas required protection.
Acting with the authority of the Texas Water Code’s anti-degradation principles, the state determined that numeric permit compliance was not good enough to protect high-value public drinking water sources. This decision established a clear precedent, and this decision has been upheld and maintained to this day, for the past 36 years, lawfully choosing to prevent ALL future sources of pollution over dilution to protect the Highland Lakes’ waters of the State of Texas.
The historical 1989 protection of the Highland Lakes demonstrates that the state has both the authority and the willingness to halt wastewater discharges into reservoirs to safeguard drinking water, aquatic health, and long-term supply reliability. This 36 year precedent supports applying the same protective standard to Canyon Lake today. It can be determined that additional wastewater permits would degrade a critical public water source just as it was determined in 1989.
What do we need to do, who do we need to meet with to get eyes on this for the protection of our drinking water that serves communities from Kyle to San Antonio to Comfort, TX? Governor Abbott, please take action to protect the waters of Texas and the people who drink it just like Lake Travis and all the Highland Lakes are protected to this day, for one county. The quality of water in Bexar, Comal and Kendall counties is just as important as the water in Travis County. You and the TCEQ could protect Canyon Lake like the Highland Lakes has been protected since 1989. It is Texas law to protect and prevent degradation of the waters of the State of Texas.
Readers, my common sense will not sway the Governor of Texas or the TCEQ. The people of Texas must contact them en mass with letters, emails, phone calls and requests to speak to him to protect Canyon Lake, and if we like, all lakes and reservoirs used as premier drinking water supplies for Texans.
Water is life, so fellow Texans, I leave it to you to contact the powers that be to inspire them to do their duty to protect OUR water, the waters of the state of Texas.
Sincerely, Danae N. Delaney Canyon Lake, TX
