A state district court in Travis County ordered Charles E. Schram III, president of Thunderbird Bay Water Services, Inc., to serve 15 days in jail for contempt of court.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office pursued the contempt of court ruling because Schram violated the 2009 agreed final judgment and permanent injunction that he entered into with the State and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The 2009 court order required him to ensure that Thunderbird Bay’s customers have access to safe drinking water. The water services corporation is located in Brown County.
According to court documents filed by the State, the defendants violated 11 provisions of the court’s 2009 injunction. Among the violations, the State charged the defendants with failing to meet TCEQ’s maximum contaminant level requirements for certain disinfection byproducts (DBPs). DBPs are potentially carcinogenic chemicals that are formed when a disinfectant such as chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic carbon.
The State also charged the defendants with failing to provide TCEQ signed and sealed engineering plans and specifications for a new public water treatment facility. Once constructed, that water treatment plant will supply water to the Thunderbird Bay, Harbor Point, Tamarack Mountain, Oak Point and Woodbridge Estates subdivisions. Residents in the Thunderbird Bay, Harbor Point and Tamarack Mountain subdivisions suffered water outages over the Memorial Day weekend. The defendants were also charged with failing to submit quarterly operational reports and written certifications of compliance with each injunctive provision to TCEQ.
