ACWP

The Green Water Treatment Plant on Town Lake is one element in a dispute between city officials and former Clean Water Program Director Bill Moriarty. (Photo By Wells Dunbar)

It never rains but it pours.

The old saw was true in Austin again last week, not only for brief but torrential Saturday rains – at about an inch in some neighborhoods, the first significant rainfall in weeks – but for the surging debate over the Downtown sewage system, which spilled over into City Council chambers Thursday as the council approved funding for the wastewater improvement program known as the Downtown Wastewater Tunnel project.

Both systems were briefly at flood stage last week, as the Saturday rains backed up the Shoal Creek lift station near Cesar Chavez and Lamar, overflowing a nearby manhole with a combination of rainwater and sewage and sending thousands of gallons pouring into Town Lake. On the political levees, only two days before, ousted Austin Clean Water Program director Bill Moriarty had told the council that because of previous delay, "the city will suffer several more years of raw sewage being dumped within a few hundred feet of the intake of the Green Water Treatment Plant, exposing hundreds of thousands of people to dreaded diseases conveyed through the drinking water supply." Responded Deputy City Manager Joe Canales, "All of those concerns have been shared with the [Texas Commission on Environmental Quality] and the [Environmental Protection Agency], and they have assured us … that the City of Austin Water Utility is doing everything it needs to be doing to be in compliance, if not exceeding the [water quality] standards." (See "Beside the Point")

Like a hole in the roof, during drought periods Austin's massive sewage problem might not seem to require fixing. But Saturday's sudden storm, although not particularly remarkable by Central Texas famine-or-flood standards, brought a quick reminder of the ongoing threat. According to water utility spokeswoman Laurie Lentz, the midday overflow dumped about 60,000 gallons of sewage-polluted rainwater, of which 10,000 gallons were safely pumped and disposed. The rest poured into Town Lake, at a point perhaps a half-mile from the Green water uptake. Should any of that toxic effluent arrive downstream at the plant, it could theoretically threaten the city's drinking water.

According to Lentz, an alarm sounded at the Shoal Creek lift station at 12:30pm Saturday, indicating a backup, and AWU personnel immediately checked manholes downstream – where, Lentz says, one staffer saw the overflow first erupt at 12:45. The treatment plant, already on standby because of the alarm, said Lentz, was shut down by 1pm – in ample time to prevent any effluent from reaching the plant. "In the judgment of the operators," said Lentz, "there was plenty of time between the initial overflow and the plant shutdown, to prevent any danger to the city's water." Lentz added that workers have since determined that the contamination began in an abandoned and damaged wastewater pipe in Shoal Creek, now plugged, and that the pipe is scheduled for removal.

Moriarty isn't so sure. In the weeks since his dismissal, he's been blasting city officials, not only for what he believes was unfair treatment, but for supposedly dragging their feet on the tunnel project until he forced their hand. In the specific instance, he doubts the city's version of the overflow, suggesting that it's more likely that it began long before plant operators could be aware of it and respond. But even if the city's version is accurate, he continued (in answer to e-mailed questions), "If they are reporting a 60,000-gallon release with that moderate a rainfall, imagine what the correct estimates would have been for an eight-inch rainfall like we had in November 2001 (city said at that time that [the overflow] was zero)?" Moriarty also argues that the city simply isn't taking sufficient precautions to prevent a potentially serious outbreak of cryptosporidiosis, caused by an intestinal parasite found in sewage. "Wouldn't any prudent individual have the drinking water tested for cryptosporidium," he asks, "before they made the statement that the drinking water was not contaminated? This [Green] water plant needs to be permanently closed before they kill someone."

Moriarty has been handing out a DVD on the subject, consisting primarily of a Court TV documentary recounting the 1993 Milwaukee outbreak of cryptosporidiosis that killed more than 100 people before the cause was found. It turned out that sewage dumped into Lake Michigan was being sucked up by Milwaukee's drinking water intake – and because cryptosporidium is resistant to standard treatment methods, polluted water sickened people all over the city, killing primarily those with with compromised immune systems due to age or pre-existing illness.

In a series of memoranda responding to Moriarty's charges and submitted to City Council, AWU officials have responded that treatment regulations were radically tightened by the EPA after 1993, that the city has mechanisms in place that specifically protect the Green plant – i.e., the alarm system and shutdown procedure – and, in the words of AWU Director Chris Lippe, "Our water supplies are always safe, considered superior, and meet or surpass all federal and state drinking water standards."

But the argument is far from over, especially if Moriarty's lawsuit proceeds to trial. Mark Boyden, a member of the ACWP Citizen Advisory Group, says that whatever the personal issues, the city needs to pay close attention to Moriarty's concerns. "He's certainly raised some serious issues and questions – some of which might be turned back to him." In particular, Boyden wants to know why Moriarty waited until after he lost his job to raise these issues publicly.

"Fair question," says Moriarty. In fact, he says, he only learned from city staff on Nov. 3 that the current downtown wastewater tunnel (known as the North Austin Interceptor) had reached capacity (despite previous assurances it would be sufficient until 2010). He said he immediately told Joe Canales that further sewer permits would have to be suspended, that the Downtown tunnel project should be kick-started, that the EPA should be immediately informed, and that the Green plant should likely be closed. "I was handed a letter four business days later, from Earth Tech," wrote Moriarty, "which said the city had 'demanded that your involvement in the program end.' (This almost sounds as though they fired me.)"

The city, of course, continues to insist that Moriarty was not employed by the city, and therefore it could not have fired him. It's not yet clear when that part of the argument will reach flood stage.