A hearing to receive public comments on The Total Maximum Daily Load for Bacteria in the Leon River below Proctor Lake was Thursday night in Hamilton.
The bacteria study, prepared by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, outlines water quality standards, the sources for pollutants and the E. coli reports for a 173-mile-long stretch of the Leon River that flows through Comanche, Hamilton and Coryell counties before it reaches Lake Belton.
Local officials, who did not plan to attend the meeting, said the contaminants in that part of the river have little impact on the lake.
“Lake Belton is in good shape; there’s no infringement,” said Bell County Commissioner Richard Cortese. “The life expectancy of the contaminants is pretty short. So far, the degradation of the lake from this issue is minimal.”
Frank Weaver, wastewater superintendent for the City of Gatesville, said that’s true for his area as well.
“Right now they are concentrating on the segment up around Stephenville and Comanche,” Weaver said. “It’s really not affecting us now and I understand that our segment of the river is not that impaired.”
The water from the Stephenville and Comanche areas does get down to Gatesville eventually, he said, but “dilution’s the solution” on a lot of things, he said. “By the time it gets here it’s really not impaired,” Weaver said.
The study shows that the contaminants in the studied section of the Leon River come from the following sources:
n22 percent from birds;
n19 percent from other wildlife;
n17 percent from sewage;
n14 percent from domestic livestock - the bacteria study includes a listing of 33 dairies and ranches in the watershed;
n8 percent from domestic animals such as dogs and cats;
n6 percent from non-avian livestock;
n2 percent from avian livestock;
n12 percent from unidentified sources.
The study states that water quality monitoring shows elevated levels of both fecal coliform and E. coli are adversely affecting water quality in impaired portions of streams and creeks that flow into the Leon River. The bacteria levels vary significantly based on climate conditions, and the samples are taken during low flow periods, Cortese said, which also impacts the results.
Cortese said officials will be working to make sure Bell County does not have this problem in the future as the same encroachments come closer to Lake Belton.
“Over the long term, we have to do a better job with all of our sewer plants,” he said.
Weaver said the study is putting “a number on the amount of bad stuff you can have in the water.
“I run wastewater treatment plants and the state keeps such tight restraints on us that we know what we turn loose,” he said.
In looking at protecting the watershed, Cortese said officials will make sure no municipality’s onsite sewage is malfunctioning; make sure that concentrated animal feeding operations, such as ranches and dairies, comply with guidelines; and look at mechanisms such as buffer strips to filter runoff before it gets into bodies of water.
“Whatever it takes to keep the runoff water from going into the water supply,” he said.
Currently, there are no mechanisms in place to address contaminants that are the result of wildlife, he said.
But, at this point in the process, it’s up to the municipalities of Hamilton, Gustine, Dublin and other cities in the watershed to come up with recommendations to address the problems in the upper portion of the Leon River.
“It’s in their court on how to do it,” Cortese said. “They have a period of time to get the problem cleared up.”
As future studies focus on lower portions of the Leon River, closer to Gatesville and Bell County, local officials will be drawn into the process of preparing solutions.
“They will be coming down the river and analyzing it so we can expect a lot more of those TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) meetings. I would be more interested in those,” Weaver said.
Staff writer Tanya Cooper contributed to this report.
