Decision by SAWS upsets residents
Utility can supply water to 3,000 homes planned over an aquifer zone
Elena Bruess STAFF WRITER
The San Antonio Water System’s board of trustees voted Tuesday to supply water to a proposed 3,000-home development on the Northwest Side that lies atop the Edwards Aquifer contributing zone.
After months of discussion and negotiation between environmental groups; the developer, Lennar Homes of Texas; and engineers with SAWS, the utility voted unanimously to pump enough water for that many homes to the Guajolote Ranch property.
The decision upset residents from the nearby town of Helotes and Scenic Loop Road, who have protested the development since its initial phases, citing land use and environmental concerns, and who urged the board to deny the request.
“I think for a lot of reasons, of all the nonattractive options that we have been working on with the developer to achieve this, it’s been good work,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who is on the SAWS board. “But there’s going to be a whole lot of conversations that are going to occur in the city when it comes to the authority that we have in the city to deal with density.”
While there has been a spatter of development around Helotes Canyon, the new development would be the densest in the area thus far. The property, which spans 1,160 acres, is at the eastern corner of the Edwards Plateau, with rocky features, streams and plains. The area is directly above the Edwards Aquifer contributing zone and only miles from the recharge zone.
The development lies in an area in which SAWS is required to provide water service upon request as long as the developer builds its own main pipelines to meet SAWS’ infrastructure. But the development is not within SAWS’ wastewater boundaries, which means the developer must provide its own wastewater facilities and treatment, such as septic systems or a wastewater treatment plant, at the property.
That part of the plan concerns environmentalists and residents the most because of the potential for sewage to enter waterways that recharge the Edwards and Trinity aquifers. Thirteen residents requested a denial during the public hearing segment of the SAWS board meeting.
“If development over the recharge and contributing zones of the Edwards Aquifer continues, the frequency of exceedances (of acceptable levels of contaminants) and the number of impact wells will increase to the point that we have lost the battle to protect the recharge,” said Ron Green, a groundwater hydrologist who lives in Helotes. “Recharge from the North and West Sides of San Antonio are the most important to protect.”
The proposed Guajolote Ranch Tract is one of the most sensitive areas of recharge to the Edwards Aquifer, Green said. With the inclusion of a wastewater facility, the Helotes Canyon Watershed, which the Helotes Creek runs through, could fill with runoff contaminants, which would damage the ecosystem and flow into the Edwards Aquifer.
To address these concerns, Lennar Homes and SAWS engineers negotiated a set of provisions for the development. These include setting aside 50 percent of the project as untouched, open space; limiting impervious cover to 30 percent; and having an A-level wastewater operator who would manage the plant. If a septic system is used, it must be an aerobic system that would minimize effects on the aquifer. If a wastewater treatment plant is built, the developer agrees to meet all state standards for being 5 miles from a recharge zone and to include advanced nutrient removal and effluent filtration.
Lennar Homes also agreed to never serve more than the 1,160 acres in the original request.
Still, because of the nature of the area, environmental groups, such as the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, urged denial. They cited a 2020 study by the Southwest Research Institute, which detailed the implications of adding more wastewater systems in the Helotes Creek Watershed, including significantly degrading the water in the area and the water quality entering the aquifer.
Residents were also concerned about the development’s potential to affect quality of life in the area. Thomas Thornton — who is mayor of the city of Grey Forest, which is just north of the proposed development — questioned the amount of traffic that would emerge if 3,000 homes are built.
“There’s going to be probably 9,000 cars, and it’s a two-lane road no matter which way you go when coming out of Guajolote Tract,” Thornton said. “That’s going to be a big problem to deal with even after the developers leave.”
Though the board members voted for approval, most said they understood the residents’ concerns and the environmental effects on the aquifer. Member Amy Hardberger noted her ongoing frustration with SAWS being a gatekeeper for development and land use, which she said it lacks the authority to be.
Besides obtaining SAWS’ approval, the development must go through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the city before starting construction.
Hardberger said most of the concerns that residents expressed to the SAWS board related to land use issues, such as density, potential flooding and effects on roads. All of those, Hardberger said, are issues for the San Antonio City Council.
“I would encourage all of the participants who are here to go to those meetings where land use discussions and density decision are appropriate and being made,” Hardberger said. “This is not the last project of this time that we will see in this area, I am sure. So how we move forward is important.”
Elena Bruess writes for the
Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms.