FROM SUBMITTED REPORTS
An estimated 15,000 gallons of raw sewage poured into the San Marcos River yesterday morning after construction workers broke a 20-inch-diameter wastewater main near the area known locally as Cape’s Camp.
At about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, contractors broke one of two lines force mains that carry wastewater from a major lift station at the apartment property’s edge to the city’s nearby wastewater treatment plant. According to city spokesperson Trey Hatt, the contractors were preparing the construction site for the forthcoming Woodlands of San Marcos development on River Road.
Municipal public works crews arrived within 10 minutes after the break was reported and labored for 2.5 hours to stop and contain the spill, Hatt said. Despite their efforts, between 20,000 and 25,000 gallons of untreated wastewater escaped the broken main and about 15,000 gallons of that made it into the river, the spokesperson said.
The spill was not significant enough, however, to make the river unsafe to swim in downstream, said Tom Taggart, executive director of the city’s Public Services division.
“This amount should not pose additional river quality concerns downstream. Public Services crews worked quickly and diligently to stop as much wastewater as they could from reaching the river,” Taggart said.
On Feb. 11, city staff issued a construction permit for an estimated $713,000 in site preparation to Doucet & Associates, the Austin-based firm serving as the project’s civil engineer, municipal records state. The alignment of the wastewater main and other underground utilities were marked by the city at the contractor’s request before work began, Hatt said.
The city will charge the developer, Athens, Ga.-based Dovetail Development, for the cost of repairs to the wastewater main and for the expense of containing and cleaning up the spill, Hatt said. Under state law, the spill will be reported to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which has the authority to conduct its own investigation in the cause of the spill and levy fines if its enforcement unit determines they are warranted.
This report originally appeared in the San Marcos Mercury and is reprinted here with permission.
