Dear Members of Friends of Canyon Lake (FOCL),

Friends of Canyon Lake is the not-for-profit corporation you formed in 2001 to provide a unified voice to the State of Texas about problems we identified in managing the single most important features of our part of the Hill Country…Canyon Lake and the Guadalupe River. We saw both as endangered due to poor management. You may recall that we fought developers and GBRA over excessive pumping.

Your Board of Directors for FOCL continues to monitor events affecting the Guadalupe River and Canyon Lake. We were successful at challenging the staff of Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority over their permit to treat sewage and discharge it into Canyon Lake. With great assistance from the Silverleaf Corporation, parent firm of the Hill Country Resort complex in Hancock, a $1.6 million upgrade of the Canyon Park Estates Waste Water Treatment Plant near Hancock will have a ribbon-cutting shortly after the first of the year. This 260,000 gallon per day upgrade will measurably improve the quality of the treated waste being discharged into the lake due to a more thorough treatment process. That’s the water you drink, ski and swim in.

Next, we urged you to write letters to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to force a Public Meeting to air our concerns about a huge new sewage plant that Canyon Lake Water Service Company wanted to build in Startzville, with a programmed discharge of up to 490,000 gallons per day directly into the lake. FOCL’s request to CLWSC was twofold:

1. Have a Public Meeting and inform us about CLWSC’s plan.
2. Order CLWSC to treat the sewage to a high degree and help us clean up the Lake and River.

You responded magnificently. The volume of letters you sent to TCEQ was sufficient to force CLWSC to withdraw its application. While CLWSC still hopes to build such a plant for a high-density developer, we have served notice that we want better sewage treatment for any discharge into the Guadalupe and Canyon Lake.

It’s time to ask you for your help again. We have learned that Fort Sam Houston’s Recreation Area at Jacob’s Creek Park is seeking to renew the permit for its sewage plant. Although the volume of treated effluent is small compared to the other two plants, the plant itself is aging and the current level of treatment is minimal. Your Board believes we need to be consistent. We have a short window of opportunity to ask TCEQ for the same requirements for this sewage plant. We need your help writing short letters to TCEQ requesting a Public Meeting.

FOCL’s board president, Bob Wickman, has written his letter, which is attached to this email, and we ask you to write one of your own. You can feel free to plagiarize his letter, or put yours in your own language. Use the same address. Be sure to mention the Permit Number. Tell TCEQ if you are a resident or property owner. Tell TCEQ you demand a Public Meeting and that you are asking for their support at raising the level of treatment for wastewater discharge at this and any other WWTP discharging into our lake and river. Be sure to sign it and include your return address.

You might like to know that folks in Austin and vicinity convinced the legislature to prohibit any municipal wastewater discharge into the Highland Lakes. Seems we are regarded as second-class citizens.

Time is short. Please make this your first order of business for the New Year. And forward this message to your friends and relatives who may also have an interest. It’s time to “saddle up and ride.”

Sincerely,
Your FOCL Board of Directors.