Benefits of Regional Wastewater Treatment. As stated above, efficient, high-quality sewage treatment is essential for the Trinity River to meet the water quality standards set forth by the TCEQ in and below the DFW area, and regionalized WWTPs are the preferred option. It is important to understand the extent to which regional WWTP operations by the Covered Parties reduce the amount of pollutants that would otherwise enter the Trinity watershed. To illustrate the high level of protection the WWTPs afford to the river in terms of waste removal, let’s briefly examine what the system would look like without a regionalized WWTP system. First, wastewater would not stop flowing to the plants, as the Covered Parties have limited control as to what actually enters the plant7. While the Covered Parties have industrial pre- treatment programs,8 WWTPs have no real options to stop wastewater and/or illicit discharges from reaching their plants9 aside from closing the influent gates. If these gates were to be closed, it is important to note that the sewage does not stop flowing unless tens to hundreds of thousands of people immediately stop washing clothes, taking showers, washing vegetables, 6 xxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/cities/22966/dallas-fort-worth/population 7 Except in rare cases, wastewater moves through the Covered Parties’ pipelines in the DFW through gravity flow. 8 Pre-treatment programs require some industrial dischargers to “pre-treat” their wastewater to an agreed upon limit prior to sending it through a wastewater pipeline and into the WWTP. These processes are regulated by through a permitting process by one of the Covered Parties, or customer municipality, and regular inspections. 9 Illicit discharges can include actions like accidental of intended tapping of wastewater pipes from residences or businesses, discharge of an unapproved constituent or volume from industry, or removal of manhole covers and direct discharge into the pipeline. Identifying illicit discharges is a difficult process. Generally, if the Covered Parties suspect illicit discharges are taking place, sampling is done along the main interceptor pipeline to identify utilizing restroom facilities, etc. In short order, the closed gates would back the system up and cause sewage to backflow causing sanitary sewer overflows from manholes and backflow into homes causing immediate, detrimental environmental and human health impacts. The Conservation Measures designed to address these risks are discussed in Section 8. Second, develop...
