The Fight For Brushy Creek
This photo taken in March 2022, illustrates the dramatic difference in water conditions above and below the Brushy Creek East Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Upstream of the facility, Brushy Creek remains clear and full of fish, while visibility plummets to about 6 inches downstream of the outflow.
Important Updates
An August 8th, the City of Round Rock approved a contract with K. Friese & Associates to conduct a Master Plan for Brushy Creek Regional Waste Water System! This marks an important step in the right direction for the Creek and residents of Round Rock. All the while, the Creek below the WWTP has continued to improve, as the City of Round Rock reported its lowest TSS values this past June (1.97 mg/L) since September 2018!
We should commend all involved in fighting for a cleaner, safer Brushy Creek; however, we most continue to advocate for Brushy Creek by voicing support for the tertiary filtration project at the East and West plants, lobbying to expedite the project in less than 2.5 years, and pursuing ways to maintain the plant at June TSS levels until the project is completed!
The East WWTP Additional Filtration Project:
The installation is slotted to take 30 months
Preliminary Engineering Report — 4 months
Design — 6 months
Bidding — 2 months
Construction/Installation — 18 months
Approximate cost of $23M to be paid for by four cities:
Round Rock to pay approx. 65% or $14.95M
The Preliminary Engineering Report is expected to be brought to the Round Rock City Council in August 2022
Environmental Services Director, Michael Thane, presented the report on the Brushy Creek Additional Filter Project and said:
“It’s an asset to Round Rock and we have to have a premiere plant”
For the month of June, The Brushy Creek East Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant reported its lowest average TSS concentrations (1.97 mg/l) since September 2018 (1.8 mg/l), which was before Round Rock took over the plant
Background
Chris Johnson has volunteered for SOTF since 2020, where he samples Brushy Creek in Round Rock, Texas. Across all our sampling locations in the United States, Brushy Creek has averaged nearly the highest concentrations of phosphate and nitrate. Healthy rivers typically have phosphate and nitrate concentrations below 25 µg PO4-P per liter and 250 µg NO3-N per liter respectively; Brushy Creek below the Waste Water Treatment Plant has averaged 5372 µg NO3-N per liter and 286 µg PO4-P per liter since we began sampling.
Brushy Creek receives significant discharge from East Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), which provides a reliable source of water to the creek in times of drought, but also runs the risk of polluting the river if these facilities are not kept in check. Recent discharges from the WWTP have led to fish kills, build up of sewage flock, and substantial concentrations of E. Coli inhibiting people form recreating in the stream. These disturbances have rendered Brushy Creek below the WWTP unsafe for humans and un-suitable for fish such as the native Guadalupe Bass and Rio Grade Cichlid.
The Problem
Since 2006, the EPA and Texas Center for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) have recognized Brushy Creek as an “Impaired Water” per the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) due to its high bacteria content and widespread recreational use
For many years, the East Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant has been a significant source of pollution to the creek, and the facility has received a number of complaints from the State of Texas, due violations of TCEQ water quality limits.
In March 2022, the City of Round Rock announced that “a significant increase in the amount of wastewater it is receiving, [put] the plant above its permitted discharge levels for volume of wastewater.”
During this event, Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and E.Coli at the outflow of the Brushy Creek WWTP measured 396 mg/L and 17,300 CFU/100mL respectively, while the TCEQ’s daily limits are 40 mg/L and 399 CFU/100mL.
Since March, several issues with leaky pipes, manhole overflow, and increased discharge have occurred, which has left sections of Brushy Creek below the WWTP with murky smelly water, banks lined by sewage flock, and fish nowhere to be found
Due to intolerable levels of E.Coli, the City of Round Rock has placed signage along Brushy Creek in the following locations advising residents to stay out the creek between the East Treatment Plant and CR 123.
WWTP Total Suspended Solid Outflow illustrates the average monthly TSS outflow (Jan-May 2022) from twenty-four wastewater treatment plants across Texas. (https://echo.epa.gov/trends/loading-tool/get-data/monitoring-data-download). Although the Brushy Creek WWTP has remained below limits for TSS through May 2022, average TSS discharge from this plant is significantly higher than comparable facilities in Texas. At times, daily limits in recent months have exceeded standards emplaced by TCEQ. (Data from EPA NPDES Monitoring compiled by George Martin Milner)
Under TCEQ regulations, discharge limits on Brushy Creek are regulated by the outflow capacity of a WWTP not the flow rates of the river
This renders Brushy Creek particularly susceptible to pollution as it only averages ~50-70 cfs. Most facilities in Texas of a similar size as that on Brushy Creek flow into larger rivers with flow rates of ~150-700 cfs. Thus, Brushy Creek is receiving more TSS in less water, leading to greater instances of contamination.
Get Involved
As we have seen with the immense growth of SOTF, the fly-fishing community’s passion to protect our rivers can invoke unimaginable change. Rivers are resilient but fragile, and we must speak up for those waters exhausted by excessive human disruption.
Now is the time to harness the power the fly-fishing community, and take a stand for Brushy Creek!