The banks of Bear Creek have been Daryl Howard's home for the
past two decades.
But now she feels like her bit of paradise could be damaged by her upstream neighbor's plan for dealing with wastewater.
Hays County Water Control and Improvement District #1 has requested a permit that would allow 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day into Bear Creek.
Planners say their hope is to send as little water as possible
downstream.
"We want to reuse that water, recapture the water, it's called
reclaiming the water realistically for irrigation. There is going to
be the potential at times when there's too much water to irrigate,
such as in rainy seasons, that would require a possible discharge to Bear Creek," HCWCID District Manager Bill Fry said.
If approved, the permit would be the first to allow wastewater
discharge in the Barton Springs section of the Edwards Aquifer.
That worries conservationists who are afraid it could change the
way wastewater in the area is handled.
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Bear Creek
The plan would allow a Hill Country development to discharge wastewater into the creek.
 
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"It could open the door for all future development to do this type of thing. So the accumulative effect of more discharge permits into all the creeks that meet our aquifer, it could only compound the problem," John Dupnik of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District said.
Neighbors have formed a group to protect Bear Creek. Barbara Stroud said any discharge water could damage the stream.
"This creek is so clean and so clear that any nutrients that are
added to it will cause algae to grow and it will kill the fish and
other aquatic life," Stroud said.
Wastewater experts say the plan is good for the environment because it would reuse the treated water, but neighbors say they don't want to see any changes to the water in their creek.
