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Lake Travis photo 1 from PLTA website

PLTA NEWS

October 06, 2009                                    Lake Travis - it's worth protecting

In This Issue
TCEQ Sewage Petition Filed
What Is Wrong With Effluent?
PLTA Board
Lonnie Moore, President
Ken Fossler, Vice President
Gloria Eckstrom, Secretary
Richard Eason, Treasurer
Janet Caylor
David Gavenda
John Strickland
Notable Quote
"the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which changes names every few years but not its polluter-friendly policies.."
Mission Statement
The Purpose of the Protect Lake Travis Association is to protect Lake Travis and its watershed from any events and conditions that could affect the health and safety of area residents, recreational users of the lake, and wildlife, and to protect the aesthetic natural beauty and recreational quality of the area.
We Agree
We liked Ashley Sanchez's opinion piece in the Austin American Statesman, Saturday, 10/03/09 titled "Water shortage flush with cause for major concern"
It concludes with "But even if individuals treat the lake as a dumping ground, governments shouldn't. Let's keep Leander's effluent out of our drinking water."
FULL ARTICLE
And We Say..
"There are better solutions to dealing with the byproducts of sewage treatment than discharging them into the lakes that we depend on for safe drinking water supply, recreation, tourism and quality of life."
Dear Reader;
Welcome to our new electronic version of the PLTA News. We hope you will find it interesting and helpful. By going to an "e" newsletter, we intend to get information out to our members and interested parties much quicker than before.
 
Lake Travis is worth protecting - and it must be protected. Our lake and the Colorado River are tremendous assets to our region. There are many forces competing for those assets, and the interests of the recreational users, business owners, property owners and residents of the Lake Travis area must be heard.
 
No threat is more immediate or potentially more harmful than the attempt by Leander and others to discharge sewage effluent into the Highland Lakes. We hope you will become better informed and get involved in helping to stop this misguided and short-sighted effort.
Lonnie Moore, President
Petition Filed To Allow Sewage Effluent Discharge Into Travis, Highland Lakes
 Leander and Granite Shoals Seek End To Discharge Restrictions
On September 25th, the cities of Leander and Granite Shoals filed a Petition for Rulemaking at the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality seeking an end to the current restrictions on discharging sewage effluent into the six Highland Lakes. Leander specifically wants to discharge into a tributary of the Sandy Creek arm of Lake Travis.
 
For more information on this petition, see the following:
A copy of actual petition as filed: HERE
Article in Water Matters of 10/02/09, "Discharge Wastewater Into the Lakes?"
What Is Wrong With Effluent?
(First of several articles) 
Leander and Granite Shoals would have you believe that discharging the effluent from their wastewater treatment plants into our lakes is not harmful and is actually desirable. They talk about modern facilities, TCEQ standards, and buzzwords like "tertiary treatment". They claim that "returning" the "reclaimed water" to the Colorado River should be done to help replenish the drinking water supply and to help maintain lake levels.
 
There are so many things misleading and outright false about their arguments that it is hard to know where to begin. As time permits, we will provide a series of articles here and on our website explaining why putting the reclaimed wastewater into our precious lakes is the wrong answer. Unfortunately, it is really just an economic decision for them - these cities want to take what seems to be the cheaper and easier route of discharging their waste downstream instead of the safer alternative of recycling the water by landscape irrigation and beneficial reuse.
 
For now, think about this. Do you really want to drink what Leander flushes? Do you want to swim in it? If Leander's reclaimed wastewater were really as pure as they claim, why don't they just put in a closed loop system and feed it back into their own drinking water supply via their treatment plant? Heck, why not fill the Leander public swimming pool with it? The simple answer is that there are many things in reclaimed wastewater that are not removed by today's technology and which don't magically go away by diluting it into our streams, lakes and rivers. These include phosphate, hormones, antibiotics, and personal care products.
 
For information on just some of the serious problems with discharging reclaimed wastewater, see Wastewater Discharge- It's Not Good For Lakes on the PLTA website. 
 
And stay tuned for more information.
If you are not already familiar with Protect Lake Travis Association, our name says it all. We are a non-profit, all-volunteer organization, founded in the early 1980s, with no other purpose than to help protect the jewel that is Lake Travis. Our website can provide you with additional information, including a history of PLTA and an opportunity to join our growing membership. Membership is not required in order to continue receiving our email newsletters.
 
If you received this newsletter in error, or are simply not interested in protecting Lake Travis, please accept our apologies. You may use the link at the bottom of this message to safely unsubscribe.
 
Thank you,
 
Lonnie Moore, President
Protect Lake Travis Association