Feds slowing repairs to keep sewage from flowing into North Texas lake, mayor says
Runaway Bay public works employees Preston Harris and Fito Lira are used to fixing broken sewer lines at all hours, but they know they are putting a Band-Aid on a 60-year-old system city officials are desperate to replace for fear that sewage could contaminate Fort Worth’s drinking water.
Lira and Harris went on a repair call early Tuesday morning where they thought they were dealing with a clogged sewer line. They ended up replacing 30 feet of clay pipe with PVC.
“Whenever someone calls us for something that is supposed to be small, we’re getting ready for something that could be big,” Lira said while taking a break for lunch.
Harris said that’s not uncommon. “We kind of always prepare for the worst,” he said.
Mayor Herman White has also spent the past three years on the front lines advocating for funding to start replacing over 30 miles of sewer lines, 300 manholes and 17 lift stations. They date to the 1960s, when Runaway Bay was developed as a resort for people who wanted vacation homes on a golf course and on Lake Bridgeport. Today, the Wise County city is home to 2,069 people, a 34% increase since 2020.
Runaway Bay’s outdated sewer system
White said that estimates to replace the outdated sewer system range from $85 million to over $100 million.
But White worries that if the area gets heavy rains, sewage could spill into Lake Bridgeport, which is a drinking water source for communities downstream, including Fort Worth.
“Even if we get started today, we could get a massive rain, and we’re going to have a major problem,” White said.
Runaway Bay has some initial federal grant funding to start on the work, but the city is waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to release the $1.75 million. Runaway Bay also received $6.75 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
White said he is frustrated that the funds are still tied up in Washington because of EPA requirements that include getting project bids from engineering firms.
White said the city has been working with the engineering firm Freese & Nichols of Fort Worth on a plan to repair the sewer system.
White talked about the same situation three years ago.
“The money was earmarked for us, but we have to reapply for it,” White said.
Runaway Bay worked with U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Republican from Amarillo, and other officials from the state and county levels.
Jackson’s office did not return messages seeking comment.
A spokesman for the EPA did not answer questions about White’s concerns over the regulations, but confirmed in an email that Runaway Bay is receiving $1.75 million in a “congressionally directed spending grant for waste water infrastructure updates.”
The EPA is continuing to work with the community to expeditiously fund the project while meeting the federal requirements necessary for the grant award, the EPA stated in the email.
Runaway Bay public safety director Steve Reynolds is also communicating with EPA officials, and said he is encouraged because he is getting emails asking for more details about the city’s plans to fix the sewer system.
Runaway Bay must also report sewer overflows to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The city had 35 violations a year and a half ago, White said. Now Runaway Bay is working with the TCEQ to fix eight violations that require the government funds to start on the repairs.
Runaway Bay started as a resort
The city started as a resort in the 1960s, White said.
It was built on ranch land with no intention of people living there permanently. There was an 18-hole golf course, a country club and a yacht club, White said.
But some residents chose to build permanent homes on the golf course or on the lake. The company that developed Runaway Bay went bankrupt when the economy went south in the 1970s, leaving people “high and dry,” White said
At the time, White worked for a company that helped the Runaway Bay residents with projects like going through the process to write ordinances and levy property taxes.
Runaway Bay became a city so residents could levy taxes to maintain roads and build a pipeline to get water from Lake Bridgeport.
But the water and sewer systems were never designed for a city that grew over time along with North Texas.
White said much of the growth is just outside the city limits, in what’s known as the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. People have settled there because of the high property taxes in other communities, but Runaway Bay has to supply the water and sewer service, putting an even greater strain on the inadequate system. The city also can’t regulate what type of homes are in the ETJ, which has a mix of RVs and homes, White said.
White said Runaway Bay received funds to build a water tower and water treatment plant, but the growth continued to put a strain on the sewer lines and infrastructure.
“We started having massive failures with the sewer on top of the water because of the growth,” he said.
Richard Rosprim and his wife were looking for a home near their grandchildren, and they decided to move from Robson Ranch to Runaway Bay in the fall of 2022.
Rosprim, whose home overlooks Lake Bridgeport, said he came for the quiet atmosphere and for quality time with his family, but he did not know about the failing sewer system as no one disclosed that information, he said.
In May and June of 2022, heavy rains inundated the lake and the sewer overflowed, leaving muck on the ground, Rosprim recalled. Sewage did not get into his home.
“It was a rude awakening,” Rosprim said. “We talked to the former owners, and they said it was never, never a problem.”
Rosprim said he built a low retaining wall to divert the water away from his property.
Although he hasn’t had problems since, like White, Rosprim worries about the next deluge.
“It’s our weather here. It’s really hard to know what’s going to happen,” he said. It’s just another given that we are going to have another 5 inch, 6 inch rain sometime. …
“It has more of an impact when you’ve got a sewage system that for whatever reason can’t handle the runoff.”