TNRCC meeting a success

TNRCC Public Meeting A Success!

The April 9th, 2002 TNRCC Public Meeting was a GREAT SUCCESS! All the PLDA members that came out and attended helped to make it a success. Your presence showed TNRCC that there is significant interest and concern. Your presence also made a year of hard work worthwhile. If all our members would participate and support the lake, we could be a powerful force that cannot be ignored. We have already showed NBU that we are not going away and that we are not to be underestimated. Our preparedness and homework paid off at the Public Meeting. NBU embarrassed their selves several times during the Public Meeting. Their permit application had inconsistent stream descriptions and NBU has a poor compliance record. An expert who is knowledgeable in the cost of build and maintaining tertiary treatment questioned NBU's $7 million dollars figure given the public and the 50% rate increase. NBU stated this was just a “rough estimate.” Our expert stated that it usually only cost half that. Again, NBU's lack of facts was embarrassing. We provided TNRCC copies of all the studies having recently been done on the Lake and summaries of all the studies that since 1971 that have all stated the phosphorus is the nutrient that causes algae blooms and excessive plant growth. All the studies have repeatedly stated that NBU's wastewater treatment plants are obviously the source of the bulk of the phosphorus entering into Lake Dunlap. The studies have also stated that removing phosphorus from the treated wastewater would have a SIGNIFICANT affect on the water quality of Lake Dunlap. So we asked TNRCC and NBU how many more studies do they need to be convinced? TNRCC doesn't need convincing that phosphorus is the culprit but it is difficult to establish the limits for phosphorus that would have a significant affect on water quality. Since the 1998 Clean Water Act, TNRCC has been given the task of assigning nutrient limits. Nutrient limits must be in place by 2005. So we have become part of an ongoing process by provided TNRCC with valuable testimony and helping to educate them about our lake and the other lower lakes on the Guadalupe. One TNRCC representative stated after the Public Meeting that they did not realize how bad our water quality gets in the summer months because of the algae. We are excited that we could be part of this process and help stress the need for nutrient limits. We hope that NBU will do the right thing by treating for phosphorus because they know it is immanent. But we do not want to go through the long, slow, tedious process of getting TNRCC to bring about the change we need. We need to keep up the pressure on NBU and City Council to implement tertiary treatment. You can help by writing letters to City Council members and writing editorials for the newspaper. Again, thanks to all the members who came out and showed your support at the April 9th Public Meeting. Help continue to show your support by attending the PLDA annual fundraiser on May 18th.