The city of Denton has taken the next step to prevent a wastewater treatment plant from being built on former state Rep. Jim Horn’s property near the Rainbow Valley community on the outskirts of Denton and Sanger.
In a Wednesday letter to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Stephen Gay, Denton's general manager of water utilities and street operations, requested a contested case hearing to prevent TCEQ from approving Horn’s permit application for the wastewater treatment plant. If approved, the plant would discharge less than 1 million gallons of treated wastewater daily into a creek that flows through Rainbow Valley's 220 acres of prairie and woodlands, raising concerns of flooding, pollution and negative impacts on wildlife.
TCEQ recently announced a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Aug. 14 at the Denton Civic Center.
Horn’s permit application was submitted in September in conjunction with Megatel Homes, a Dallas developer that builds mixed-use communities centered around artificial lagoons that are 10 million to 35 million gallons in size. The developer is seeking to build a lagoon community on the outskirts of Sanger and Denton.
Horn’s application isn’t the only one in the works.
In last week's letter, Gay said there are multiple applications for wastewater treatment plants to discharge amounts not to exceed 1 million gallons daily into Denton's watersheds. If approved, he wrote, they will result in multiple loads that would impact Lewisville Lake, which provides drinking water to approximately 3 million people.
“Together, they represent a significant loading of pollutants into the receiving waters,” Gay wrote. “Finally, the city contends that the applicant’s package plant is not likely to treat and manage PFAS and other emerging contaminates that require advanced treatment.”
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — known as PFAS, or "forever chemicals" — have contaminated more than 9,300 sites in 50 states, and the nonprofit Environmental Working Group says 165 million Americans have drinking water that has tested positive for PFAS.
Forever chemicals have been found in Denton, though the levels are below the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed limit, according to the Environmental Working Group's PFAS map.
In last week's letter, Gay explained that Denton adopted a new Wastewater Master Plan in 2024 to use as a planning tool “to address rapid population growth and increased development in the city region." The plan is intended to assist the city with management of wastewater, protect public health and safety, and construct the infrastructure needed for Denton's next 25 years of growth.
Gay also mentioned the new Clear Creek Water Reclamation Plant, a future facility that he wrote would discharge into Clear Creek, which is located on property along the discharge path of Horn’s proposed wastewater treatment plant.
The city’s future facility is currently permitted to discharge treated domestic wastewater at flow not to exceed 950,00 gallons daily average flow, but a permit amendment is pending that would allow the city to increase that discharge to an annual average flow of 10 million gallons per day, according to the letter.
Gay gave several reasons to deny the permit application. He wrote that it doesn't protect water quality since there is no total phosphorus limit on the treated water.
“This unlimited additional loading of phosphorus into Clear Creek, Elm Fork, Trinity River and Lewisville Lake may pose a threat to water quality,” Gay wrote. “The water bodies at issue are high-quality and require careful consideration.”
Gay pointed out that applicants didn't ask for information regarding costs or inquire about service conditions, as required by TCEQ's regionalization policy. He also that their application doesn't demonstrate that they received a response from Denton or Sanger.
“How could it, though?” Gay asked. “The application was filed [with the TCEQ] on Sept. 16, 2024, and the letters are dated Sept. 12, 2024. That is a short period of time to have any meaningful correspondence with Sanger and Denton or to conduct any sort of meaningful analysis.”
In the Sept. 12 letter to Denton, Dallas Wendling, the project manager for proposed plant, wrote that they were preparing to file an application for a discharge permit with the TCEQ and requested: "Please let us know if you have the extra capacity in your facility to accommodate the required flow or are willing to expand your facility to accommodate the flow."
Wendling sent an identical letter, dated Sept. 12, to Sanger.
In his letter Wednesday, Gay mentioned other instances of missing documentation, details to support why the proposed discharge permit was needed and a failure to meet the sludge and biosolids management and disposal requirements.
Gay stressed that Horn and Megatel should have known “there would be significant public interest,” given how many people use drinking water from Lewisville Lake as well as the 23 nearby landowners who would be impacted by the proposed discharge.
“Also, Mr. Horn has owned the property in this area for quite some time,” Gay wrote. “He should be aware of the Rainbow Valley and Whitehawk communities and the conservation easement downstream of the discharge. The form is incomplete and additional outreach should be required.”
Earlier this month, Horn told the Denton Record-Chronicle he trusted TCEQ’s judgment and expertise.
“With my background, I have learned over the years that the Texas state agencies have done a good job building this state,” Horn said.
In a follow-up interview with WFAA-TV last week, Horn stressed that he believed the developer would do the right thing and that it would be the beginning of a nice development.
Nearby property owners disagree.
About 40 people met this week at a library in Denton to discuss the upcoming public hearing in August, how they thought it would be run and how to take the next step to a contested hearing, according to property owner Sam Alexander.
Alexander said they discussed the “many aspects of how it affects our community." They mentioned those effects in last week's WFAA report claiming that the proposed plant would ruin their home, destroy natural habitats and bring pollution to a pristine area.
“I thought it was funny in the TV interview that Jim had to throw in that he had been here for 25 years,” Alexander said. “What damn difference does that make? I have lived in my house for 45 years. Does that mean it’s OK to shove a sewer plant down our throat?”