Onion Creek is both a defining landmark and a potent talisman for our community, symbolizing as it does both the bounteous wonder and the fragility of our little part of the world. In peril from recurrent drought and changing climate, and even development on its banks, now Onion Creek could become a sewage disposal site.
The city of Dripping Springs is preparing to submit for a permit to discharge waste water into the creek. The city’s formal application to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is expected in the next 30-60 days.
The city has plenty of reason to expand its waste water treatment system. It’s important for the city to gain the ability to manage additional sewage disposal for several reasons: to carry out its plans for Mercer Street and old town, to allow for economic growth, and to take more homes of septic systems. The city has a treatment plan with capacity, but no place to discharge treated sewage. Thus the application.
But while the city’s need is real, there may be a better solution. Or at least reason to move slowly… Read the full editorial from the News-Dispatch
More information on water quality issues in the Hill Country