Clean Water In the News

SAN ANTONIO — More than half of the state's waterways are unfit for fishing or swimming 35 years after the original version of the Clean Water Act was enacted in the U.S., according to an environmental advocacy group's report released Thursday.

Austin-based Environment Texas said the state was the fourth-worst violator of Clean Water Act pollution permit limits in 2005. The group said 318 "major facilities" in Texas — such as sewage and water treatment plants and oil refineries — exceeded pollution discharge limits at least once for a total of 1,348 violations.

Texas was behind Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, according to the group's "Troubled Waters" analysis.

The number of Texas facilities that violated their permits was the most in the nation, the group said, and they represent more than half of major industrial and municipal facilities in the state. Topping the list of pollutants released into the water were arsenic and cyanide, said J.J. Karabias, federal field associate for the nonprofit group.

"Despite progress made with Clean Water Act in the last 35 years, these facilities continue to pollute," Karabias said. "They're also harming many sources of drinking water."

The group based its analysis on information obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency using a Freedom of Information Act request filed earlier this year, Karabias said.

Karabias said Harris County, home to Houston and a big part of the energy industry, was the worst county in the nation in the number of facilities exceeding Clean Water Act permits at least once in 2005.

Karabias said the group hopes the report brings attention to the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007, which has been introduced in both houses of Congress.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality released a statement Thursday calling the information in the report "dated" and saying the commission makes "protection of its waterways and drinking water one of its top priorities."

"What is relevant is that in 2007 96 percent of the Texas population is served by public water systems which meet all federal drinking water standards," the statement said. "Our drinking water is safe."

Dave Bary, a spokesman for the EPA's regional office in Dallas, said he had not seen the report.

State Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, said he will introduce legislation next session that prevents the worst polluters from keeping profits when they exceed their permits.

"We should take away the incentive for these worst polluters to make a profit at the expense of the rest of us," Villarreal said.

He also said public agencies, not just private enterprises, need to be held accountable.

"The bottom line is, when I open up the kitchen faucet to fill a glass of water for my little children, they don't know if it's a private water company or a public water company. They just want a glass of water," Villarreal said. "So we need to make sure that that water is safe."

According to the EPA's Web site, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments were enacted in 1972, followed by an amendment in 1977 that made the law commonly known as the Clean Water Act.