Pflugerville Was Fined More Than $30K After Chlorine Creek Spill

PFLUGERVILLE, TX — State environmental regulators assessed a $33,000 penalty against the City of Pflugerville after the inadvertent spill of millions of gallons in chlorinated water into a creek earlier this year, Patch has learned.

On March 4, officials discovered some 3.4 million gallons of chlorinated water were discharged into Gilleland Creek the previous Sunday after a pump failure. The spill was attributed to a mechanical failure of a dechlorination pump at the City of Pflugerville Gilleland Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to a city press release on the matter in the immediate aftermath.

That press advisory issued by the city in the spill's immediate aftermath has since been removed from the municipal website. "This news has expired," a notation reads on the link that once allowed residents to secure details on the Gilleland Creek spill along with safety tips to avoid ingestion and contact with the affected water. A replacement link to archived stories related City of Pflugerville occurrences goes back only to March 22 — well after the chlorine spill — without allowing users to secure press releases before that date, including the detailed one related to the spill.

City water operators conduct routine visual inspections of the plant, and estimated the mechanical failure occurred between noon on Sunday, March 3, and 7:45 a.m. on Monday. "The issue was immediately repaired," officials assured in a subsequent press advisory.

Patch reached out to the TCEQ to determine if any fines had been assessed as a result of a spill. Following a formal request for information, the agency said the city was fined for "...violations of the Texas Water Code and/or commission rules. As part of that enforcement, regulators assessed a $33,000 fine.

The agency sent a Notice of Enforcement letter — a copy of which was provided to Patch — to Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales on April 12, according to the documents obtained, before the matter was sent for formal enforcement, according to the correspondence. "Subsequently, a proposed order (attached) was mailed to the city on July 3, 2019," officials wrote. "The proposed order contains details on the violation and administrative penalty, and recognizes that the city resolved the matter."

TCEQ officials also offer an appeals process of sorts: "Should you believe you are unable to pay the proposed administrative penalty, you may claim financial inability to pay part or all of the penalty amount," regulators wrote.

Assuming a settlement is reached (meaning the city and the commission agree on the penalty amount and the terms of the order), the matter is published in the Texas Register for a 30-day public comment period, prior to the matter being scheduled for an executive director’s or Commissioner’s Agenda for consideration, TCEQ officials wrote

In the event a settlement cannot be reached on the proposed order and penalty, officials explained, the case is then referred to the TCEQ’s Litigation Division, and may result in an evidentiary hearing (contested case process). The hearing process is governed by the Administrative Procedures Act (Gov’t Code Ch. 2001) as well as TCEQ rules and procedural rules adopted by the State Office of Administrative Hearings, officials added.

Read more on TCEQ’s enforcement process.

Patch reached out to City of Pflugerville spokeswoman for comment, who in turn requested a formal request for information. Patch has sent the list of questions — including whether the fine was paid and queries related to any measures that have since been taken to avoid plant pump failure in the future — and will update this story once those questions are answered.

Related story: Pump Fail Dumps 3.4M Gallons Of Chlorinated Water In Pflugerville

It's not the first time water quality at the creek has been compromised after mechanical failure.

In 2014, more than a million gallons of untreated sewage flowed into Gilleland Creekin the early morning hours of a Sunday after a power outage disabled a Pflugerville wastewater treatment plant, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Residents were issued safety tips in the aftermath of that spill, particularly to those with private drinking water supply wells within a half-mile of the spill site or one mile downstream, according to the report.

The following year, a contractor inadvertently ruptured an 8-inch water main that caused a spill of 560,000 gallons of chlorinated water into the creek. According to information found on the City of Pflugerville website, a Texas Parks and Wildlife investigation found the 2015 discharge killed about 1,575 fish. The restitution value of the lost fish and investigation cost was calculated at the time to be $1,047, city officials reported at the time.

In a Lower Colorado River Authority assessment, Gilleland Creek in 2004 was found by TCEQ officials to have "impaired water quality due to bacteria levels in excess of state standards," according to the document. A so-called Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study of flow and bacteria levels in Gilleland Creek subsequently was conducted by the LCRA and TCEQ in 2006, which found that elevated bacteria levels correlated with higher flow in the creek from storm water runoff, according to the findings.

According to the Texas State Historical Association, Gilleland Creek rises four miles northwest of Pflugerville in northern Travis County (at 30°28' N, 97°41' W) and runs southwest for 27 miles to its mouth on the Colorado River, seven miles southeast of Austin (at 30°14' N, 97°32' W). The stream runs through Pfluger Park and Gilleland Creek Park in Pflugerville. The surrounding flat to rolling prairie is characterized by local steep slopes and clay and sandy loams that support oak, juniper, and pecan in the upper reaches of the creek and mesquite, cacti, and grasses in the lower reaches, according to the TSHA website. The creek was named for James Gilleland, an early Texas settler and Methodist lay preacher.