Here’s how to comment with state regulators on a planned west-side wastewater facility

Residents in far west Fort Worth adjacent to where the city will build a water reclamation facility will soon be able to comment on the project with state regulators.

By the end of February, the Water Department will file a permit application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality asking for permission to discharge water into a state waterway, in this case Mary’s Creek. The application provides detail about water quality and the city’s treatment process.

The wastewater treatment facility is expected to add a consistent flow to the creek, which at times is dry.

In 2011, the city spent $4.9 million to buy 100 acres off Chapin Road, north of Interstate 30 for the water facility. The facility will serve areas of the city outside Loop 820. Notices of the application filing are being sent to impacted residents. Letters will also go to residents living a mile downstream of the planned facility. An open house at the site will be held in the spring, the city said.

Mary’s Creek flows into the Clear Fork of the Trinity River near Bellaire Drive South and Southwest Boulevard. The Clear Fork meets the West Fork of the Trinity River on the north end of downtown, in the heart of the $910 million Trinity River Vision project.

Public comment is part of the permit process, which can take 18 to 36 months. Once a permit is issued, construction will not begin right away and possibly not until 2026.

Stacy Walters, the Water Department’s regulatory-environmental coordinator, said residents will need to have a valid reason to protest the application.

“We’ve been working on everything we need to get to the point to actually file the permit application,” said Mary Gugliuzza, Water Department spokeswoman.

The facility has been in the works for about 20 years. Increased home building, mostly from the Walsh project, and other commercial growth make it necessary to file the application now.

The facility will not be as large as the city’s Village Creek facility on the east side. The new facility will be permitted to discharge 10 million gallons of water a day initially, but that will increase to 25 million gallons a day. By comparison, Village Creek discharges 166 million gallons a day.

A year ago, the city hired Alan Plummer Associates for $390,949 to help complete the permit application.

This story was originally published February 5, 2018 at 8:25 AM with the headline "Here’s how to comment with state regulators on a planned west-side wastewater facility."