After sewage leaked from the RR 12 lift station onto private property earlier this month, early reports indicated that wastewater might have leaked into the Blanco River. More than two weeks later, no evidence has been found to prove that supposition.
Property owner Natalie Meeks said she noticed the sewage pouring out of a manhole cover on her property a little after 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 11. Meeks had provided an easement for the sewer equipment to be installed on her property in an agreement prior to the construction of the city’s sewer system, signed July 28, 2017. Since the installation of the new sewer system almost two years ago, this was the first sewage malfunction reported in Wimberley.
Meeks contacted members of the Wimberley City Council, including the mayor, around 9:30 p.m. Calls followed to representatives from Professional General Management Services, AquaTexas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The city of Wimberley has a contract with PGMS, a professional service company, to manage their wastewater system, including remote monitoring, troubleshooting and service of the wastewater collection system. Responding to reports from both Meeks and city staff, a PGMS representative arrived onsite at Meeks’ property around 11:15 p.m. According to PGMS, their representative was onsite until approximately 1 a.m. on Sunday, March 12.
“They assured that drainage was re-established and that the overflow had stopped,” the city stated in a release on March 20. “They then treated the overflow site. The system is continuing to be monitored several times a day.”
Timothy Young, who works for PGMS, explained that a reset was necessary to fix a faulty control float at the RR 12 lift station.
“We had a control float fail… which caused the pumps to short cycle over and over for an unknown period of time,” he explained. “The repeated, short cycles caused the pump to trip out, which led to fluid coming up in the lift station and leaking roughly 3,100 gallons out of a manhole.”
Meeks said she believed that the wastewater leaked into the Blanco River but did not know whether it might have seeped through the ground or flowed into the river directly.
“Right where the sewage was draining, we had lost a cypress tree from the recent storm. So, there was a depression,” Meeks said. “The sewage was spread out and the ground around it was marshy, but the sewage was definitely seeping into that depression. So I’m hoping that it at least filtered [the water] somewhat.”
Neither Meeks nor the PGMS representative onsite saw sewage flowing directly into the river, and neither walked down to the water’s edge that night.
Young said that, while PGMS found evidence that water had left the manhole, they found no evidence any had leaked into the waterway. Additionally, the ground surrounding the leak was treated immediately after with chlorine bleach for disinfection.
“I would conclude that it did not reach the river on the surface level,” said Wimberley Mayor Gina Fulkerson. “That’s what we can tell from seeing it the next day.”
With a low probability of any sewage in the river, a primary concern for the city seemed to be ensuring proper monitoring, notification and alarm systems are in place for the future.
Normally, the monitoring system for the lift station would notify city staff and PGMS workers when wastewater levels begin to rise abnormally. However, in the case of the float malfunction, these notifications were sent to individuals no longer with the city nor PGMS, Young said. The list of contacts for these notifications, which are sent via text and email messages, has since been updated, he added.
A more obvious notification for the lift station would normally be its alarm system, with an audible buzzer and red strobe light. While the light came on earlier this month, the buzzer failed and had to be fixed, Young said.
To prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future, Young said he will work with the city on coming up with “a more encompassing, preventative maintenance schedule.”
Wimberley City Administrator Tim Patek also underwent a thorough review of the city’s wastewater system management to ensure the city’s sewer system is functioning in a safe manner and at optimum efficiency.
