SAN ANTONIO – A northwest Bexar County resident is expressing outrage over a proposed wastewater treatment plant that could compromise San Antonio’s drinking water, potentially squandering $351 million in taxpayer funds meant for water protection.
Lisa Muyres-Pack says San Antonio taxpayers should be upset.
“You may as well take the money that they’re using and literally flush it down the toilet because that’s what they’re doing,” Lisa Muyres-Pack said.
She said $351 million of San Antonio taxpayer money that was spent to protect their drinking water will be flushed with treated wastewater if the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approves a wastewater treatment plant that would sit on top of the Helotes Creek watershed.
That water feeds into the Edwards Aquifer, the source of drinking water for 1.7 million people in San Antonio.
“It feels not only wasted, it feels insulting,” Muyres-Pack said.
Helotes Creek runs through Muyres-Pack’s 35-acre property.
She joined the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program in 2018.
The program buys easements along the aquifer — essentially buying the development rights from the owners — to prevent development that would hurt the aquifer.
Since 2000, the city’s Edwards Aquifer program has purchased 138 conservation easements, protecting more than 187,000 acres across six counties.
Lennar Construction wants to build 2,500 homes next to Muyres-Pack’s property, a project that would require a wastewater treatment plant.
Neighbors in the area and researchers argue that this treated wastewater would flow into the aquifer, making the water undrinkable.
“Why would you agree to be part of a program and let tax dollars be spent trying to preserve something that we know is very important, only to turn around and let a developer come in, make their money, and leave with all the problems they’re going to create?” Muyres-Pack said.
She said this affects not just her, but everyone downstream — all the way to the South Side of San Antonio — and anyone who pays taxes in San Antonio.
“If it comes down to the economics of it, it doesn’t make economic sense. It only makes economic sense for Lennar’s shareholders,” Muyres-Pack said.
KSAT has reached out multiple times to Lennar Construction to ask about the impacts of the development and the questions residents and researchers are raising about this treatment facility. KSAT has not received a response or interview.
The City of San Antonio released the following statement on Thursday:
“The City of San Antonio is aware of Lennar Homes’ permit request to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a proposed wastewater treatment facility associated with the Guajolote Ranch development.
The City’s Edwards Aquifer Protection Program (EAPP) has not invested any funding or resources related to this project.
We understand that residents and researchers have raised concerns about the potential impacts of treated wastewater on the Helotes Creek watershed and, ultimately, the Edwards Aquifer. Any thorough analysis of these potential impacts would require a scientific study or modeling effort to assess water quality outcomes under both ideal conditions and potential exceedances of TCEQ permit limits.
San Antonio remains strongly committed to protecting the Edwards Aquifer through the EAPP, which has preserved over 187,000 acres of sensitive land in the recharge and contributing zones. This long-standing program reflects the community’s shared commitment to safeguarding our most vital water resource for future generations.”
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