Posted: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:54 PM - 10,032 Readers
By: Asher Price
Officials say the move will save money; environmental group says it jeopardizes health.In a move that it says will save money and is a practical strategy for monitoring the state's waterways, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has proposed loosening its water quality standards.
The proposed revisions have the support of dairy farmers and wastewater utilities but are opposed by an environmental group and the City of Austin, which say they would jeopardize health.
The proposal would draw new categories for Texas' waterways, basing regulations on how much humans have contact with them. And it would raise the amount of allowable bacteria in the waterways before they are considered impaired, requiring local and state authorities to monitor and clean them.
The commission is required by federal law to review the standards, which the state last overhauled in 2000.
Currently, Texas waterways are divided into two basic categories: The vast majority are known as contact recreation waterways, in which people might swim, wade, fish or kayak, among other things. A few, such as the Houston ship channel, are known as noncontact.
Contact recreation waterways can have up to 126 colonies per 100 milliliters for E. coli, a bacterium linked to human and animal waste, before they are considered polluted.
Under the proposed revisions, "primary contact" waterways would have a limit of 206 colonies per 100 milliliters before being considered polluted. Many waterways where fishing and boating, but not swimming, take place could have as many as 630 colonies per 100 milliliters before being called polluted.
According to a risk assessment by the commission, for a water body with an E. coli level of 126, eight in 1,000 swimmers could become ill. If the E. coli level is 206, 10 in 1,000 swimmers could become ill. At 630 parts per 100 milliliters, 14 to 15 swimmers per 1,000 could become ill.
According to data with the Lower Colorado River Authority, E. coli figures for Lady Bird Lake are consistently below 100 parts per 100 milliliters, and often as low as single digits. By the public boat ramp at Lake Austin at Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway), E. coli levels are typically in single digits, though measurements since 2005 are not available. Similarly low numbers are found in Lake Travis.
With the change to 206 parts per 100 milliliters for the most heavily recreated waterways, at least 62 water bodies will be removed from the 2008 list of impaired water bodies, according to the commission.
"Assuming all our waterways as used for swimming was an optimistic approach," said Jim Davenport, an aquatic scientist with the commission. "The trouble is applying (that standard) to everything, including a dry, intermittent stream."
"Applied incorrectly, we are misdirecting resources to correct those problems," he said.
The agency estimates that it can save at least $1 million over three years with the change on bacteria levels, according to a commission paper on the proposed revision.
Public comment on the proposals closes Wednesday. Once the commissioners vote on the revisions, the federal Environmental Protection Agency could take years to give the final stamp of approval.
The new standards have largely been applauded by some of the industries most likely to contribute bacteria to waterways.
"There are real costs associated with managing a farm to comply with the law," said John Cowan, executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen . To prevent manure from washing into waterways, farmers may be forced to fence in cattle, thereby losing valuable grazing acreage, he said.
Wastewater utilities also support the new standards.
"The tighter the standard, the more technology you might have to employ to treat (sewage to meet) that standard," costing wastewater companies and ratepayers, said Brad Castleberry, a lawyer who represents the Water Environment Association of Texas .
But the new bacteria standards, the loosest allowed by the EPA, amount to "backsliding," said Chris Herrington, an environmental engineer with the City of Austin. Similar standards are in place in Utah and Colorado.
The LCRA also opposes the proposed bacteria standard, spokeswoman Clara Tuma said.
More forcefully, the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club said the new rules would increase the risk of illness.
"TCEQ is undertaking a systematic effort to weaken existing clean water standards that protect the health of people who recreate in or on Texas lakes and streams," Ken Kramer, director of the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club, said in a statement.
"The inevitable result of all the changes proposed by TCEQ is that tens of water bodies in Texas currently considered as polluted because of bacterial contamination will now magically be considered clean, and TCEQ will no longer have to develop and implement clean-up plans for those streams," Kramer said.
