Low levels of Lake Brownwood and water restrictions have prompted the City of Brownwood to look into a wastewater reuse plan which has stimulated many differing opinions.
During this week’s city council meeting, Dr. Chris Stephens stated his opinion that better enforced conservation efforts will serve the city better than building a costly water treatment plant that in his opinion could possibly be blamed for future medical problems or sickness.
“Brownwood seems to be responding to low lake levels with an untried municipal water reuse project that carries uncertain cost without first a strong conservation effort,” Stephens said “Nobody who lives in Brownwood that I have spoken to thinks that conservation has been addressed, promoted or enforced.”
He said he has seen wasteful watering and people planting grass and flowers that will require at least two days a week watering to survive. Stephens stated that conservation was only discussed after lake levels began to demand immediate attention. He asked the council to please be sure of the costs including maintenance and supply costs before making such a decision. He questioned the health issues that may be blamed on the plant due to its water source.
“With each case of water borne illness, whether it be hepatitis A or salmonella occurs in the municipal water service area, there will be that question of ‘is this related to our water treatment plant,’ it may or may not be but the question remains and it will be difficult to prove yea or nay.”
Dr. Stephens stated that he had spoken to realtors who felt that this wastewater reuse plan could bring down the values of homes in the area. He stated that people outside of the area tease that they will not have to get over the “yuck factor” and that their water will be cheaper. He again asked that all questions be answered before proceeding with the plant and emphasized his desire for conservation without the loans involved with the water reuse project.
According to city manager Bobby Rountree, there currently are no issues facing the city regarding the preliminary engineering report presented to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Rountree stated that there will be one more meeting and that no pilot plant will be required before the decision of TCEQ regarding approval of the Brownwood wastewater reuse plant is granted.
City of Brownwood Division Director of Public Works David Harris was asked by Councilman Carl McMillan to give more information about the proposed wastewater reuse and treatment plant.
Harris explained the quality of the water source and the treatment process within the proposed plant.
“The quality of water source (treated effluent) for the proposed plant is better than what is currently being used,” said Harris. “The treated effluent currently meets the standards for drinking water before it enters the plant, with the exception of nitrates which is removed by RO.”
Harris continued, explaining that the lake water is untreated in comparison.
“The quality of the water, as far as the amount of clarity and turbidity and solids in the water is clearer and better quality than what comes out of the lake, than what they treat right now. It has already been disinfected to meet the standards for virus infection removal before we ever treat it, which the lake is not disinfected, so we are ahead of that. As far as fail safes, because of this type of system, we have multiple barriers which means that for everything that could be a problem, whether it is a virus, whether it is crypto, whether it is a chemical, whether it is a bacteria, there are two treatment processes in line for each one of those. So, not only do we have a process that will work under normal conditions, we have another one that is designed to treat or remove the same thing twice, so I have a back up. If one fails, I have another one where both of them are designated to meet current drinking water standards.”
Harris stated that currently, there is no secondary water source for the city of Brownwood and that it is very important to establish the proposed plant for this reason in addition to the drought situation.
“We have no other supply of water without this plant. This is very important should something drastic happen to the water improvement district. A tornado is our biggest vulnerability. If Brown County loses their treatment plant, we have about 24-48 hours of water and then we are out of water,” said Harris. “It would shut down schools, businesses and everything else. This will give us the amount of water to where we can keep going, the public would be notified, we would shut down as much as possible and we would be able to maintain a water supply to meet normal function of life.”
The filtration of process of the plant and the safety features of the plant, Harris assured, will shut down to make sure the water is being treated to all required standards.
“This plant is tested every 90 seconds for disinfection and dechlorination. It’s tested by composite samples which take periodic samples over a 24 hour period taken-those are tested, along with quarterly samples, and sample of the headwaters-what goes in and what comes out. Also on the plant, as is with all modern surface water treatment plants, if anything fails, we don’t get an alarm that says it failed, we get an alarm that says the plant has failed and has been shut down,” Harris said. “The plant has many stages of treatment, filtration, ultraviolet treatment, reverse osmosis and nitrate monitoring. All of these things that are tested for will have shut down capabilities to shut down automatically-even if we are not there. So there are enough failsafes in this. These fail safes are standard.”
Because some worry of the increased cost to build the multimillion dollar plant, Harris explained that the costs estimates continue to be what the city is expecting and with the cost deferment of water purchase from the Brown County Water Improvement District, it may be “a wash” according to Harris who stated that the City is still checking operational and chemical expenses of the plant.
“The cost of not having water is a whole lot higher than a few cents,” Harris said. “We cannot live without it.”
Harris closed explaining that many have formed opinions before they have the facts regarding the plant and are forming opinion based on hearsay.
“This is an open process. If you have any questions, let me know,” said Harris. “The worst thing you can do is sit in a coffee house and talk about it when you don’t know the facts. If you want the facts, come get the facts, then go back to the coffee shop. That is what needs to happen.”
Mayor Haynes stated that the matter would be back on the agenda before its approval if voted on and that any more debate would be held at that time.
