Volente has been at the forefront of water issues since the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority first introduced its proposed pipeline inside the village’s borders. Since then, cities have asked for a change to effluent discharge rules and other factors that affect the quality of the lake.
With the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality proposing changes to the state’s water quality rules, the village is asking for help. Sandra Haverlah, a lobbyist hired by the village, is currently working to bring elected officials from around the Highland Lakes together in a coalition to protect the lakes.
“The hope with the coalition is that other people will step forward,” she said. “People who can provide the resources and the expertise can give back to others.”
The Lake Travis Community Coalition could include officials from Jonestown, Lago Vista, Point Venture, Lakeway and Spicewood among others. In addition, Haverlah said she has reached out to property owners’ associations in unincorporated areas around the lakes.
Haverlah said she has already received a positive response from Lakeway and officials from several other cities have said they will discuss the issues with their various councils. She hopes to have a meeting of elected officials by the end of March or beginning of April, since the TCEQ is on a deadline for passing its proposed changes.
Wayne Watts, engineer for the city of Leander, which first proposed the change to effluent discharge rules, said he understands where they are coming from, but said those who argue so stringently for higher water quality standards don’t understand how the Highland Lakes system works.
“Lake Travis basically has a constant flow to it,” changes.
Wayne Watts, engineer for the city of Leander, which first proposed the change to effluent discharge rules, said he understands where they are coming from, but said those who argue so stringently for higher water quality standards don’t understand how the Highland Lakes system works.
“Lake Travis basically has a constant flow to it,” he said. “Because there’s a turnover in the volume of the lake, there’s no accumulation of nutrients.”
Watts was referring to the main concern with discharging treated effluent back into the lake—a buildup of nutrients that causes algae and bacteria to grow. The argument that such a buildup would cause Lake Travis to turn green and slimy was successfully used in the ’80s to put the effluent discharge ban in place.
Another more recent concern is residual pharmaceuticals—prescription and over-the-counter pills processed in the body and lingering in treated wastewater—ending up in the drinking water supply. Studies have shown those pharmaceuticals have had a negative impact on fish.
Watts said the discharge ban does not protect the lake from such concerns because so many septic systems in unincorporated areas are allowed to discharge partially treated water into the lake.
“Without a doubt, 20,000 homes on septic tanks are loading Lake Travis with more than the treatment plant,” he said.
In fact, Watts said having water quality standards too high can actually be a detriment. If nutrient levels drop too low and no algae grows, there will not be enough food to support the fish in the lake.
Tom Buckle, village attorney for Volente and Jonestown mayor pro tem, said he was part of the fight in the ’80s to put the ban in place, and he does not believe water treatment standards have progressed enough to lift it now. He also discounted Watts’ theory about nutrient accumulation being washed away by the flow of the Colorado River.
“Limestone locks up phosphorous,” he said, referring to the limestone bed under Lake Travis. “The reason they were so clean and didn’t have the algae that Lake Houston has was because of the lack of phosphorous.”
He said discharging into the lake would add more phosphorous than the limestone could filter, which would then work with the nitrogen in the lake to create algae growth.
The discharge ban was put into place thanks to a coalition similar to the one proposed now by Volente. That coalition, however, dissolved once it had accomplished its narrow goal.
“It was an informal group,” Buckle said.
Haverlah said she would like the Lake Travis Community Coalition to become a more permanent fixture, since there are more issues to deal with than just the changes in water quality standards.
“The drought last year, I think, really opened people’s eyes as to how the water is being used,” she said. “Once that fight is over, there’s a multitude of other issues.”