82R6024 JAM-F
By: Watson S.B. No. 853
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a restriction on permits authorizing direct discharges
of waste or pollutants into water in certain areas associated with
the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 26, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 26.0462 to read as follows:
Sec. 26.0462. RESTRICTIONS ON PERMITS FOR DIRECT DISCHARGES
OF WASTE OR POLLUTANTS INTO WATER IN CERTAIN ZONES OF BARTON SPRINGS
SEGMENT OF EDWARDS AQUIFER. (a) In this section, "advanced water
treatment facility" means a facility that uses water and wastewater
treatment technology that achieves a level of effluent quality
that:
(1) achieves the primary and secondary drinking water
standards promulgated by the commission;
(2) does not contribute to adverse toxic effects on
aquatic life in the receiving water;
(3) does not contribute to adverse toxic effects on
human health resulting from the consumption of aquatic organisms or
water from, or from water recreation in, the receiving water; and
(4) does not alter nutrient concentrations in the
receiving water during non-storm conditions.
(b) The commission may not:
(1) issue a new permit authorizing the direct
discharge of waste or pollutants into any water in:
(A) the portion of the recharge zone of the
Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer that is under the
jurisdiction of the Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation
District; or
(B) the contributing zone associated with the
recharge zone described by Paragraph (A); or
(2) amend a permit issued before September 1, 2011, to
authorize an increase in the amount of waste or pollutants that may
be directly discharged into any water described by Subdivision (1).
(c) This section does not affect the authority of the
commission to authorize:
(1) the direct discharge of water into the
contributing zone described by Subsection (b)(1)(B) from an
advanced water treatment facility under a Texas pollutant discharge
elimination system permit if all requirements for the discharge
permit are satisfied; or
(2) stormwater and certain non-stormwater discharges
as specified in:
(A) the commission's individual permits for
municipal separate storm sewer systems; and
(B) the commission's general permits for
stormwater and associated non-stormwater discharges from small
municipal separate storm sewer systems, industrial facilities, and
construction activities.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an application for a permit or permit amendment that is submitted
to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the
effective date of this Act. An application for a permit or permit
amendment that was submitted to the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect at the time the application was filed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.