Health District Assesses Lake Madeline

Galveston  – The city of Galveston has taken exception to a report by the Galveston County Health District regarding water quality in Lake Madeline.

“The city emphatically denies that the airport wastewater treatment plant is the cause of environmental issues in Lake Madeline,” Brandon Wade, the assistant city manager, wrote in a memo responding to the report. “Furthermore, we stand by our assertion that the plant is run in accordance with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requirements.”

For his part, Ronnie Schultz, director of environmental programs for the health district, says the report did not intend to point any fingers at the treatment plant.

“There could be multiple sources,” he said. “What we recommended was that the city continue testing to identify the source. We also said we’d be willing to help in that, and we offered the services of our laboratory.”

The fact that the report mentions improvements to the wastewater treatment plant was in no way intended to indicate that the plant might not be up to standards, he said.

“We know that there’s a lot of construction going on out there,” he said. “We’re simply saying that we’re glad the city is working to address that.”

The dustup had its start in mid-December.

“The whole investigation started from an odor complaint,” Schultz said. “Basically, we conducted an investigation and turned our report over to the city. It’s now in the city’s hands.”

Schultz said a health department investigator went out to the lake Dec. 14 in response to a citizen’s complaint concerning the water in the entrance canal to Lake Madeline. The water appeared brown, the complaint said, and it smelled like sewage.

“Based upon the results of an intensive investigation and the testing of multiple water samples, the health district’s conclusions are highly suggestive of the presence of sewage contamination in the waters of Lake Madeline,” Schultz said in a report dated Jan. 18.

Schultz said his staff detected elevated ammonia levels in samples taken in the entrance canal to the lake. He said samples taken at two locations contained bacteria levels comparable to what would be seen in water contaminated with raw sewage.

“The presence of this material may also be a causative agent to the odors in the area,” the report said.

The report indicates that health district officials met with representatives of the city in early January to discuss their findings.

“During this meeting, possible reasons to the contamination discovered during the Dec. 14 investigations were discussed along with current improvement projects to the airport wastewater treatment plant and the collection system,” Schultz said in his report.

The city’s response to the health district’s report says the bacteria findings are inconclusive because of a lack of baseline data. It says the odor could well be the result of hydrogen sulfide, formed through the breakdown of organic matter.

“The city of Galveston staff continues to stand by its commitment to the protection of Lake Madeline from sewage intrusion,” read the report written by Eric Wilson, the city’s utilities program manager.

The report does not indicate what efforts the city has made to track down the source of contamination. It does say that the city agrees with the health district that all future such complaints should be referred to the appropriate city department.

“This approach will work toward preventing further misunderstandings such as this one in the future,” the report concludes.

For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
(409) 938-2211 or 409.392.0007
kkoopman@gchd.org