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As readers know, SOS Alliance won a court order  shooting down the state-issued permit authorizing the City of Dripping Springs to discharge up to 822,000 gallons per day of treated sewage into Onion Creek.  Onion Creek is the largest source of recharge flows that feed Barton Springs.  Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble's opinion letter should go most of the way in stopping other small cities and developer utility districts from seeking similar permits to discharge into our crystal clear Hill Country streams.  This includes the City of Blanco, where SOS and others are working to convince the City Council there to withdraw its application to discharge into the Blanco River.  

Last week the State lawyers at the Attorney General's office and Dripping Springs filed their notices to appeal Judge Guerra Gamble's decision to the Third Court of Appeals.  SOS is confident we will win this appeal as well, but we need your support to defend and extend this Onion Creek win. If you are able, please consider a generous, tax-deductible donation today to support our legal defense of clean water in Central Texas.  
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Also, take a few minutes to read this amazing research report by Baylor University biology professor Dr. Ryan King on the spectacular biological communities that live in our Hill Country streams and how they are harmed by the discharge of treated municipal wastewater.  

With the support of our members and our community partners, 2020 has been a busy and productive year for Save Our Springs. Here are some of our accomplishments:

In 2020, our team of attorneys took several important legal and policy-based actions to address some of our region’s most urgent environmental challenges:

• SOS won a major court victory in October that threw out the City of Dripping Springs permit to discharge its treated sewage into Onion Creek.  The City must now continue irrigating and reusing its treated wastewater, keeping it out of Onion Creek, the Edwards Aquifer, and Barton Springs. 
• Our legal success blocking the Dripping Springs wastewater permit, together with studies by Baylor biology professor Ryan King, will help us block a similar proposal by the City of Blanco to discharge its treated sewage into the Blanco River -- and to keep treated sewage out of a Barton Creek tributary.    
• As the watchdogs for the Edwards Aquifer, SOS attorneys reached agreement with multiple developers, including the owners of the notorious “Lantana” development off Southwest Parkway, to improve their projects’ water quality standards and to dedicate land for permanent conservation;
• SOS successfully helped convince the City of Austin to use eminent domain to save an environmentally sensitive 11.9-acre site along the banks of Bull Creek, which will prevent a hotel from encroaching upon critical water quality zones and endangered species habitat;
• SOS worked with our water conservation allies to advance “Water Forward” code amendments requiring new developments to incorporate water efficiency and on-site reuse in their projects. 
• SOS brought suit against the City of Kyle for entering into an illegal contract with a developer that allows the developer to pave thousands of acres of land over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and puts Kyle taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars for infrastructure costs; and
• To safeguard the Barton Springs Salamander and other species that call Barton Springs home, SOS has won motions to preserve its ongoing litigation against a proposal to excavate an Astrodome-sized amount of sediment from the recharge and contributing zones of the Edwards Aquifer, as part of TxDOT’s planned expansion of US 290/SH 71 in Oak Hill (aka the “Oak Hill Parkway”).
• SOS has and continues to work with local leaders and a wide range of allies to advocate for innovative solutions to address our traffic and mobility issues while protecting our environment, increasing transportation options, and enhancing safety. 

 
Our Outreach Education team produced a successful virtual, online Barton Springs University (BSU) Day in October.  This event featured a live keynote address by Dr. Robert Mace, the Executive Director of Texas State University’s Meadows Center for Water and the Environment along with other new SOS produced videos.  You can view all of these videos in addition to other curated videos anytime at BartonSpringsUniversity.org. 
 
We are now in the planning process to revive our BSU year-long outdoor education program that had to be put on hold during the summer.  We will have our eco snorkeling tours; kids camps, and educational presentations start up again in 2021 culminating with an even bigger and better BSU Day at Barton Springs in September! Stay tuned for more info on these programs through our email news! Sign up at SOSAlliance.org.  

Today, Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble struck down a state permit authorizing the City of Dripping Springs to discharge over 800,000 gallons per day of treated sewage into Onion Creek, a pristine water body that is a recharge source for Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer. The ruling was made in response to an appeal filed by the Save Our Springs Alliance.

After the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved Dripping Springs’ requested permit, the SOS Alliance took immediate action. We filed suit challenging the approved permit based on violations of the Clean Water Act. Our suit centered around three separate points: (1) that the proposed discharge would violate the Act’s anti-degradation rule, which is intended to protect high-quality streams, such as Onion Creek; (2) that the proposed discharge would harm existing aquatic life; and (3) that the public notices of the proposed discharge point were woefully inadequate.
We are pleased to report that Judge Guerra Gamble agreed with the SOS Alliance on all three points! To read Judge Guerra Gamble’s decision, visit here. To read the brief we filed, visit here.

“This ruling should put an end to any new discharges in Texas Hill Country springs,” said Save Our Springs Alliance Executive Director Bill Bunch.
The decision today will likely impact several pending permit applications to discharge treated sewage into other Hill Country waterways. It’s an important step towards preventing Hill Country streams from being used to flush sewage downstream, which ultimately contaminates groundwater wells and endangered species habitat, including Barton Springs.
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To help us continue the fight to protect our Hill County streams, please consider making a contribution to our efforts: donate here.
To learn more about how treated sewage affects our Hill Country streams, check out this video from this year’s Barton Springs University Day. More educational videos available at BartonSpringsUniversity.org.

Austin voters will be asked to approve Proposition B, a $460 million bond dedicated to enhancing active transportation infrastructure, which includes significant funding for new sidewalks, bike lanes, urban trails, and other safety-related improvements. After careful consideration of the projects included within the bond proposition and the potential benefits for active transportation, the Save Our Springs Alliance has decided to formally endorse Proposition B and encourages its members to vote “YES” on Proposition B. Read the official board statement here.  

Kyle Residents, SOS File Suit Over Sweetheart Development Agreement
Lawsuit Claims Kyle City Council Violated Texas Open Meetings Act & Texas Constitution


On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, three Kyle residents and the Save Our Springs Alliance filed suit against the City of Kyle to prevent the implementation of a development agreement that locks in exorbitant development entitlements for a massive, 3200+ acre development located on the banks of the Blanco River and over the Edwards Aquifer.  
The lawsuit has two main claims: (i) that the Kyle City Council’s approvals of the Nance-Bradshaw Ranch development agreement and related actions violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by failing to provide prior public notice of the agreement’s provisions; and (ii) that the development agreement contracted away to private developers the City of Kyle’s police powers to manage growth, in violation of the Texas Constitution.
After months of backroom dealing, on May 3, 2016, Kyle city staff presented the Kyle City Council with a development agreement to govern the annexation and development of the Nance-Bradshaw Ranch, a 3,268.6 area of land, located mostly along the west bank of the Blanco River. The 101-page draft development agreement was distributed to the City Council only minutes before the May 3rd meeting began. No backup information was included with the agenda item, and the public was never provided a copy of the draft agreement prior to the vote.
As the lawsuit points out, the posting language lacked the basic components for public notice required by the Texas Open Meetings Act, including the location of the property and the subject matter of the agreement. Despite not having time to read the development agreement, the Kyle City Council voted 4-2 to approve it.
“The two council members that voted ‘no’ explained from the dais that they weren’t even given a copy of the agreement until minutes before the meeting started,” explained Lila Knight, a Kyle resident and lead plaintiff listed on the lawsuit. “Not only did the public not have an opportunity to review the agreement, but the council members themselves had no idea what they were voting on. They didn’t have time to read it.”
Even though the property is zoned for “agricultural uses,” the development agreement guarantees the owners the absolute right to develop the property with up to 9,000 “living unit equivalents”.[1] The agreement remains in effect for up to 45 years and locks in the owners’ rights to develop the property however they see fit, binding future city councils from making any zoning decision that would affect the development of the property without the owners’ consent
“This is a plain case of unconstitutional contract zoning,” explained Bill Bunch, Executive Director of the Save Our Springs Alliance. “The Texas Constitution guarantees that voters have the right to elect representatives to manage the City’s growth through zoning, budgeting, and overall city planning; the Kyle City Council cannot contract away that legislative authority.”
Prior to approving the challenged agreement, Kyle’s city limits were located entirely on the northeast side of the Blanco River. This development agreement expands the city westward across the Blanco River, incorporating approximately 3,000 acres of the Nance Bradshaw Ranch along the river’s southwest bank and over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. The development agreement commits the City to seek local, state and federal funding to build a new bridge to provide access and develop these environmentally sensitive lands with well-over 6,000 new homes and associated commercial development. 
The bridge would extend Cypress Road, which turns into Center Street and provides the most direct route from the 3,268 acres to I-35, through downtown Kyle. No traffic impact analysis was prepared for the development agreement.
“This was a backroom deal, hidden from the public, with no real thought for what it means for the environment, city finances, or city traffic,” said Ms. Knight. 
“This agreement, with its thousands of acres of ‘build whatever you want’ development and the bridge  over the Blanco River abandons decades of planning that focuses growth for Hays County and the City of Kyle along the I-35 corridor. It would literally pave the way for unmanaged sprawl in one of the most environmentally sensitive and currently rural areas in our region.”
The lawsuit also seeks to enjoin the City from spending millions of dollars of taxpayer and ratepayer funds to expand roadway and utility infrastructure to support the development. The City of Kyle has projected that the new development would add up to 25,000 new residents to the City, a 50% increase over its estimated population, requiring significant, future financial investments by the City and its taxpayers and utility ratepayers.
 
[1] A “living unit equivalent” is a unit of measurement tied to the typical amount of water used by a single-family residence located in a standard subdivision; for example, a single-family lot would be equivalent to one LUE, while a condominium unit might only represent one-half LUE.

 
Please Send a tax-deductible donation to SOS Alliance today so that we can continue legal advocacy work  to protect the Edwards Aquifer and to promote open, honest government and participatory democracy.
Share this email with friends and colleagues and ask them to stay informed by subscribing to our email newsletter here . 

​Excrement happens.  We all poop and pee.  For most of us, our body wastes wind their way to a treatment plant, where biological, chemical, and physical processes remove some of the waste, convert some of it to less harmful forms, and then discharge what’s left to a nearby creek or river.  For other communities, the treated wastewater is kept out of our streams, irrigated on fields or other landscaped areas and/or reused in other ways. 
The discharge of municipal sewage to our nation’s waters persists despite a bipartisan Congress voting overwhelmingly in 1972 for a national goal to “eliminate discharges” of pollutants to our nation’s waters by 1985.  That goal remains a cornerstone of the federal Clean Water Act to this day. 
A case in point:  yesterday Liberty Hill, Texas, a small town in far western Williamson County, was in the news again for its fouling of the South San Gabriel River.  The photos and drone footage show exactly what happens when treated sewage is discharged into to our crystal-clear Hill Country waters.  
As a last resort, our friends at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and downstream neighbors filed an official notice of their intent to sue Liberty Hill for thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act.  SOS Alliance has assisted this effort, and we will help some more if needed. 
Meanwhile, in Blanco, last week the City Council responded to hundreds of requests from citizens and conservation groups to create a task force to advise the City on its wastewater future.  The goal of the task force is to find a path forward that keeps all of the City’s wastewater out of the Blanco River and put to beneficial reuse.  THANK YOU!!  to everyone who sent an email or phoned Blanco’s mayor and council urging them to pursue the task force and eliminate its river discharge.
At the same time, the Blanco council refused to put on hold its application to the TCEQ for a permit to discharge over a million gallons per day of sewage into the Blanco River.  Continuing to spend money to pollute its namesake river makes little sense; it suggests a majority of the council believes the task force will not help the City “eliminate discharge” to the river as Congress implored almost 50 years ago. 
How is it that today, in 2020, so many local officials make every kind of excuse and explanation for why their (our) sewage is not really causing the problem, or its only a small part of the problem, or that “it costs too much to fix it”? Downstream neighbors, native fish, people who enjoy swimming and fishing don’t add up to much in this equation.  Too often, voters – poopers – let them off the hook.
Every day, usually a few times a day, behind closed doors, we contribute our share to the problem.  We flush and forget.  We pay our bills, cast our votes, and keep on pooping, without demanding that our elected officials take action to keep our own waste out of our nation’s rivers and streams.  It’s time for Texas, at least central Texas, and for each of us to take action now to restore our rivers and eliminate our discharges to the waters of the United States.  

Please take a few minutes to send an email to the City of Blanco City Council before next Tuesday asking them to call a “time out” on their pending permit application to increase the City’s authorized wastewater discharge to the Blanco River.  The Blanco City Council is set to have a work session on its wastewater application next Tuesday, August 25, at 5:30 p.m. 
Here are the key facts on this urgent and important issue.
Currently Blanco treats about 225,000 gallons per day of municipal sewage.  Sometimes this treated sewage is discharged to the river just above the FM 165 bridge (aka the Henly cutoff).  When this happens, nasty algae blooms take over the river downstream, under the 165 bridge and downstream.  (If you have 34 minutes, watch this science report on what nutrient pollution from treated municipal sewage does to our Hill Country streams.) 
Mostly, however, Blanco has irrigated its treated wastewater on pasture land, keeping its sewage out of the river.  The City has applied for a state permit that would authorize it to discharge up to 1.6 million gallons of treated sewage every day into the river.
The Blanco River is a major source of Barton Springs flows during drought conditions; it supplies critical recharge flows to San Marcos Springs under higher flow conditions. 
Save Our Springs Alliance has been working with the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and Protect Our Blanco to convince the City to abandon its expanded discharge permit proposal, to reduce its request to only that amount needed to serve near term development within Blanco, and to commit to a “no discharge” and “total reuse” future for its treated wastewater.    The Blanco City Council has new membership and we are encouraged by their willingness to reconsider the City’s push for a river discharge permit. 
Science News Flash -- In response to Blanco’s permit application, last year SOS commissioned a biological and nutrient study of the Blanco River at Blanco by Baylor University professor Dr. Ryan King.  You can now watch Professor King’s presentation of his Blanco River research results here. 
Professor King is the leading scientist researching the effects of nutrient pollution (from municipal sewage and agricultural runoff) on aquatic ecosystems in Texas.  King’s 34 minute presentation on his Blanco River research is the best science primer on why we must keep treated sewage out of our crystal clear Hill Country streams. 
It’s actually not a hard thing to do.
The most common method for managing municipal sewage in the Hill Country for decades has been to treat and then irrigate the wastewater on fields, golf courses, or other landscaped areas.  It’s only been in recent years – when TCEQ and EPA have shown they don’t care what the law or science says about discharging treated sewage into our creeks and rivers – that developers and small cities have sought TCEQ approval to dump their sewage into our Hill Country streams.   
SOS is committed to making the Clean Water Act and science matter, once again.   (Make our rivers clean again!)  We have appealed the TCEQ permit that approved the City of Dripping Springs discharging its sewage into Onion Creek to the courthouse.  Now we are opposing the Blanco discharge proposal with the best science, law, policy, and collaborative advocacy that we can muster. 
With your help we can convince the Blanco City Council that a “no discharge” future is the best for its residents, its river, and its ratepayers.  Please send an email to the Blanco City Council, watch Professor King’s presentation, and, if you are able, send a tax-deductible donation to SOS Alliance today so that we can continue our work keeping treated sewage out of our rivers, springs, and aquifers.   

Two weeks ago President Trump signed into law the Great American Outdoors Act, which will provide $9 billion over the next 5 years to address the backlog in repairs and upgrades to national park and wildlife refuge facilities and $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  The LWCF provides funding for the acquisition and expansion of national, state, and local parks.  The new law has been recognized as the most important land conservation legislation in decades. 

The Act won overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate (75-23) and the House (310-107), although both Texas Senators Cornyn and Cruz and Central Texas Congressmen Chip Roy, John Carter, and Michael McCaul voted against the Act. 

The bipartisan win reflects the solid public support that our national parks have across the nation, but especially in the west, and also the importance that voters of all stripes place on getting outside and connecting to nature, with or without a pandemic. 

Then, last Tuesday, the Hays County Commissioners Court voted to place a $75 million bond on the November ballot that would fund the acquisition of parks and conservation easements and the construction of parks facilities.  THANK YOU!! to everyone who contacted Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra and the County Commissioners to urge their support for this ballot measure. 
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Please spread the word to all Hays County voters you may know to “vote yes” on this ballot measure in November.    Several of the projects the bond would fund will, together, preserve forever a few thousand acres of Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zone lands. 
Tesla Gigafactory Invites Colorado River Protection Plan – Read Austin sci-fi writer Christopher Brown’s op-ed calling for the Tesla project to spur the creation of a protected Colorado River corridor from Longhorn Dam to Bastrop County. 

On July 29, 2020, the Austin City Council, led by District 10 City Council Member Alison Alter, voted unanimously to proceed with eminent domain proceedings to acquire 11.39 acres of land along Bull Creek, near Spicewood Springs Road. During last week’s meeting, SOS joined with other environmental groups such as Clean Water Action, Save Barton Creek Association, Environment Texas, and the Sierra Club to encourage the council to act quickly to protect this environmentally sensitive property.

From an environmental perspective, this is a unique property. It is located entirely within the Critical Water Quality Zone and Water Quality Transition Zone of Bull Creek (one of Austin’s drinking supply watersheds), and it is also almost entirely encumbered by floodplain. By acquiring this property, the City Council will help mitigate future flooding risks downstream and avoid increases in stormwater runoff contaminants and erosion that might occur if the site were to be developed with the proposed hotel use.
 
City-ownership of this land will also be a huge benefit for endangered and threatened species habitat. Although this parcel will not officially be part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (“BCP”) system, it has been on environmental advocates’ radar for many years as an important acquisition to help complete the goals of the BCCP habitat conservation plan and permit. Completing the acreage preservation requirement of the Bull Creek macro-site is one of the last remaining requirements of the BCCP masterplan and the City’s obligations under the BCCP permit.  After acquisition, SOS will encourage the City’s Parks Department to work with the BCCP to restore some of the tree canopy that once existed on the property for the benefit of the golden-cheeked warbler and black-capped vireo; however, even without these habitat restoration activities, preservation of the land would be a huge benefit to protect the springs that are immediately downstream of this property, which is habitat for other threatened species, such as the Jollyville Plateau Salamander.
 
We would also like to take a moment to re-thank Rep. Erin Zweiner, whose last-minute parliamentary skills, during the last legislative session, helped kill a harmful bill (HB 3750) that would have removed the City of Austin’s ability to regulate water quality on sites like this one, in the City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. Without Rep. Zweiner’s action, this site would more than likely be a large-scale, luxury hotel, with buildings scattering the creek’s edge.
 
As Austin’s water watchdog, the Save Our Springs Alliance will continue to promote the protection of Austin’s watersheds. We are appreciative of every member of the Austin City Council for recognizing the opportunities of acquiring this property, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Council to protect creeks all throughout Austin.