Wastewater fight goes statewide

Wimberley’s wastewater fight has gone statewide after the Texas Tribune, a non-profit online news website, dove into the topic last week.

The Texas Tribune makes their articles free for republishing and newspapers as far away as Temple and Victoria ran the story.

The article detailed the local tiff over the city treating its own wastewater versus sending it to Aqua Texas to be treated. The article largely centered on the environmental concerns of running a sewer pipe under Cypress Creek, finances and potential future growth.

“You can imagine what would happen to that creek and Blue Hole if there were a leak. And Aqua Texas has leaks, we know that,” said Marilee Wood, a founding member of Friends of Blue Hole and proponent of the city-owned plan, said in the story.

Aqua Texas president Bob Laughman said it is “not unusual” for sewer pipes to bore under creeks. He also said that the finances don’t make sense for the city to run its own plant.

“It’s simple math,” Laughman said. “There’s no way you can build a facility that costs $3 million and have only 120 connections to pay for it. Aqua couldn’t do it, and the city couldn’t do it. You can’t make those numbers work.”

Opponents argue that the multiple $1 million grants have made the city’s treatment system affordable.

To read the full story “In Wimberley, a fight bubbles up over sewage and a beloved swimming hole” written by Natalia Alamdari visit www.texastribune.org/2018/08/02/wimberley-aqua-texas-sewage-environmental-fight/.