City Surges for Water Treatment Plant 4

Of course, there was more going down yesterday than Jim Pitt's speaker hopes; a stone's throw away from the Lege at the County Court, Travis County commissioners revisited their most contentious issue in recent memory: Water Treatment Plant 4.

Commissioners last dealt with WTP4 back in October, when they rebuffed the city's plans to build the plant at the so-called Cortaña site; the city requires county approval to do so as the agencies co-manage the nature habitat Cortaña lies in, the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. In making their denial, commissioners sited the fact that Cortaña lies in the BCP, and is home to the endangered black capped vireo bird; additionally, some felt the city hadn't exhausted its search for other sites, an allegation underscored by a report from the city auditor stating an additional site did fit city criteria, but wasn't properly vetted. Still, the city says they'd prefer to build the treatment plant at Cortaña over the tract they've currently sited, nearby at the headwaters of Bull Creek. Critics allege that the city's decision to stake out the even more ecologically-delicate Bull Creek site has been a gambit to force the county's hand on approving Cortaña, but if it was, it hasn't met with success.

But that could change, With Sarah Eckhardt replacing the plant's most vociferous opponent, Karen Sonleitner, it's rumored city staff hopes Eckhardt will be more sympathetic to their pleas. Yesterday, the commissioners set a new Chapter 26 hearing for February 14, where they could potentially amend the above-named fish and wildlife code to allow the plant in Cortaña. But that's if it happens at all; the court promised to hear the city out again, but if it looked their previous vote wouldn't change, then the meeting could be canceled. In the next few weeks, birdwatchers should know whether to fear a Valentine's Day massacre.