Title
Consider adopting Ordinance No. 3895, amending Chapter 86 Utilities, Article III, Division 2, providing updated pretreatment requirements; and take appropriate action.
Body
REQUESTOR:
Public Works Department
BACKGROUND:
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) oversees the Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) program designed to control and reduce the amount of pollutants released into the environment. One source of pollutants is the discharge of untreated wastewater. Wastewater from homes, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities is collected and transported through a series of pipes. These pipes are the collection system. Farmers Branch has a wastewater collection system that discharges into a system owned and operated by the Trinity River Authority (TRA). TRA provides large tunnel main lines that transport wastewater from contracting cities to TRA wastewater treatment plants. The plants treat the wastewater to remove harmful organisms and contaminants from the wastewater before it is discharged into receiving creeks, rivers, or lakes.
TRA operates a multi-jurisdictional regional wastewater facility, Central Regional Wastewater System (CRWS), which provides wastewater transportation and treatment by contract to the City of Farmers Branch. Post-treatment, water from the TRA plants is discharged into the waters of the state. Therefore, TRA must have a TPDES permit with the TCEQ authorizing this discharge. As part of its permit, TRA established controls or limits on the levels of certain pollutants in wastewater discharged into the system. These limits prevent interference with the operation of the wastewater treatment plant and prevent the introduction of pollutants into the wastewater system that could pass through the treatment facility untreated and into the receiving body of water, thus preventing the introduction of pollutants that could cause health and safety problems to the public or the environment.
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