Rose Byrd, one of the speakers, said the wastewater dumping was to blame for the recent flooding of the Green Pastures and Sunrise Acres subdivisions near Goforth Road and Bebee Road.
“The city of Buda’s wastewater is being released daily into a flood-controlled dam in the backyards of the entire community at a rate of 1.5 million gallons a day,” Byrd said. “The community never consented to receiving this wastewater.”
Byrd claimed their properties have flooded twice in the past seven months as a result of the dumping.
Mayor Todd Ruge said he first heard these concerns from Byrd six months ago, and along with W.E. West, Jr., general manager of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, wrote a letter to Byrd addressing her claims.
According to the letter, while the GBRA does discharge treated water into Porter Creek, about three miles upstream from the area Byrd referred to, the discharge is “dwarfed by the kind of rainfall events needed to cause the rise in lake levels that you talk about.”
“The notion that we have not been proactive in answering questions is false,” Ruge said at the council meeting.
Byrd asked to respond to Ruge, but was unable to because public comment period had ended.
“The wastewater permit isn’t valid because they were supposed to get permission from property owners,” Byrd later said.
Brian Lillibridge, water specialist for the City of Buda, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Other agenda items
City Council also passed two motions regarding flood relief during the meeting.
The council adopted resolutions to appoint city manager Kenneth Williams as a representative in all matters regarding the Texas Water Development Board flood protection grant project and the Federal Emergency Management Agency mitigation project and grant.
The TWDB has authorized $2 million in match funds for the program. Recipients of the grant must find 50 percent of the proposed project costs. According to the resolution, the city's cost is not to exceed $300,000.
The FEMA program is a reimbursement program that requires the city to match 25 percent of the project costs.
