We Should Have Some Input

To the editor:

A recent article regarded River Clogged By Plants should be of interest to all those who come in contact with the Colorado River. The river is clogged or nearly clogged by algae growing in the water that is partly treated wastewater.

It was mentioned that the treated wastewater has a higher nutrient level than from natural runoff. It was noted that some of this treated wastewater is discharged from the City of Austin. The city is permitted and regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. So the city gets to discharge water into the Colorado River by getting a permit from the state. I wonder how much that costs to get a permit?

All towns downstream from the City of Austin and other sources of wastewater should not be affected by this runoff. If it is safe to dump this discharge into the river why not allow the City of Austin and others to keep this water and not share this water with those downstream?

There is a certain risk associated with this wastewater as seen by the increase in algae blooms. This affects our water and therefore we downstream should have a say in this discharge. Not just a permit from the TCEQ to say it is OK.

Frank Chlumsky Muldoon