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By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News
December 21, 2007
DICKINSON — An environmental study, detailing the sore
health of Dickinson Bayou, could influence whether a proposed 1,200-lot
development can discharge up to 500,000 gallons of treated wastewater into an
upstream bayou.
The city of Dickinson and others protested a wastewater permit sought by the
development firm Marlin Atlantis White, and the matter of building a treatment
plant in Texas City to discharge into Gum Bayou is before the State Office of
Administrative Hearings.
Dickinson resident Peggy Wright, on behalf of senior citizens at Tropical
Gardens, said the release of that amount of treated wastewater near their
neighborhood would further burden a tidewater that the state said can’t meet
clean-water standards even in its predevelopment condition.
The contested case hearing, if not settled, is slated for trial in Galveston as
early as May.
“It’s a health hazard,” Wright said. “Treated effluent is supposed to be clean,
but we know there are failures in heavy rain events.”
Wright said she’s not against the development, but argues the treatment plant
could be built to discharge elsewhere.
Dickinson city councilman Louis Decker said the unincorporated area of San Leon
could be interested in having a sewage treatment plant there.
“No one contacted San Leon,” Decker said. “They would take this. They haven’t
been contacted, but they are interested.”
State Findings
Roger Miranda, a geoscientist with the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality, released a study Dec. 5, confirming what many suspected for years:
There’s not enough oxygen, at times, to support marine life.
Miranda said Dickinson Bayou’s minimum dissolved-oxygen level doesn’t meet the
state standard and has led to periodic fish kills.
Dickinson Bayou also has elevated bacteria levels, which don’t meet the
clean-water standard, Miranda said.
“Levels of fecal coliform bacteria, E. coli and Enterococcus bacteria in
Dickinson Bayou exceed the number specified in the Texas Surface Water Quality
standards for safe contact recreation,” Miranda said.
Bacteria in the tidal area of the bayou reached concentrations from 60 up to 172
times the maximum single-sample criteria, Miranda said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people infected by
E. coli could experience bloody diarrhea and fever. Children younger than 5 and
the elderly could also experience kidney failure, the center reports.
“The TCEQ monitors bacteria in the bayou quarterly, sometimes monthly,” Miranda
said.
No Funds To Warn Public
But, unlike the 52 bacteria warning signs that line Galveston and Bolivar
Peninsula beaches and the Texas City Dike, legislators haven’t provided funding
for similar warning signs on Dickinson Bayou, said Kurt Koopmann, a spokesman
with the Galveston County Health District.
Most of the land adjacent the bayou is private property, Koopmann said.
“You can’t put a sign up behind every home,” he said. “There has been some
(effort) at funding signs at the boat ramp.”
Bud Solmonsson, manager of the Dickinson Bayou Watershed Advisory Committee,
said the bacteria issue would become worse with more development of the
watershed.
“It’s unhealthy. It’s got problems,” Solmonsson said. “They’re telling us we
have a cancer here. We have a problem, and we’re not sure what we can do about
it.”
A study on the extent of the bayou’s bacteriological impairment could be ready
for review in 2009 and adopted as soon as 2010, Miranda said.
Val Perkins, a Houston attorney at Coats Rose, is representing the developer. He
said the expectation for the development would encompass 418 acres north of FM
517, with a possible build out of five years.
If the case goes to court, an administrative law judge could rule on the matter,
generally 30 days after the hearings, Perkins said. The ruling would then be
forwarded to TCEQ, which would then grant or deny the permit application.
“Whether or not our wastewater stream going into Gum Bayou would have an impact
on the levels of Dickinson Bayou is one of the issues that play in our case,”
Perkins said. “We don’t believe the wastewater on either bayou will be a
negative.”
Bayou’s Troubled Past
A similar study of Dickinson Bayou in 1972 by the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department chronicled five fish kills in 1971. It said more than 4 million fish
died that year in concentrations between state Highway 3 and FM 646. Another
“large” kill was reported in 1972, the study said.
The study attributed kills to low levels of dissolved oxygen brought about by
the introduction of industrial, agricultural and domestic wastes and algae
blooms, which supersaturate the water with oxygen during the day through
photosynthesis and deplete oxygen at night through respiration.
The study, authored by Ken Knudson and Charles E. Belaire, found the bayou’s
oxygen level is upset by a combination of natural and man-made influences. The
study called for the reduction of phosphorous discharged from two wastewater
treatment plants and for a follow-up study to determine if the measures worked.
The study also concluded two sewage treatment plants on the Bayou were “poorly
located,” because effluent was discharged into areas that are normally stagnant.
It also recommended selecting less stagnant sites for future sewage treatment
plants to avoid, “the build up of nutrients, which lead to algal blooms and fish
kills ...”
In The Path Of Growth
Perkins said the area around Dickinson Bayou is in the path of development, and
that future growth could be hampered if the state prohibits the additional
discharge of pollutants into the tidewater.
Miranda said it is possible the clean-water standard could be made less
stringent, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been reluctant to
grant such measures.
“It’s my understanding the issues in the past have got a lot of people
concerned,” Perkins said. “That’s too bad, because any development going in now
is just not going to be harmful. People are understandably concerned given the
history of bad things that have happened to the bayou.”For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
409-938-2211 or 409-392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org |
