From the inbox:
Five years into a landmark 2021 federal consent decree requiring Houston to fix its sewage system, a new independent engineering review commissioned by Bayou City Waterkeeper finds that progress is falling short of what residents need and what the law requires. The findings were presented today to Houston City Council.
The review, authored by Kevin Draganchuk, P.E. of CEA Engineers, assessed all available consent decree compliance reporting. The results reveal a combination of delays, missing data, and a transparency gap that makes independently verifying whether Houston is on track to meet its legal obligations difficult to discern by city council, community members, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
WHAT THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW FOUND
Five of the nine neighborhoods the city itself identified as its highest-priority “capacity-constrained areas” — places with the worst chronic sewage overflow records — remain in the design phase five years in. Only one of those five has seen construction begin on the fixes the decree requires.
Several required projects have been delayed as of most recent reporting by Houston Public Works, raising concern about Public Works’ project status on key consent decree deadlines. Among the noteworthy is the evaluation of the massive, aging 69th Street Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has reported high-volume sewage overflows during heavy rains and has been cited by TCEQ at least 20 times since 2021 for potential permit violations.
The engineer found the city’s annual compliance reports “severely lacking in data.” Specific completion dates, project-level backup data, and methodological detail are routinely omitted making it impossible for City Council, the EPA, or the public to independently verify compliance. The engineer also flagged unexplained peculiarities in the city’s reported data, including a 97-mile decrease in total reported pipe length alongside an increase of 1,800 manholes. We can assume why this is, but without verified data, are not able to confirm why this is the case.
Where repairs have been made, they work. A lift station improvement off Clinton Drive appears to have addressed the root cause of high-volume overflows near Woodland Park and demonstrates exactly the kind of impact these investments can have for Houston neighborhoods. However, too few of these fixes are moving fast enough.
“Where the city invests, it works. In Woodland Park, early projects have already significantly reduced sanitary sewer overflow events during rain and wet weather. This is proof that when we prioritize infrastructure, we see immediate, tangible returns for our neighborhoods. The consent decree is a vital win for Houston — and we must protect it.”
— Guadalupe Fernandez, Policy Strategy Director, Bayou City Waterkeeper
WHY THIS MATTERS NOW
A national report released this month ranked Houston one of the three most stressed sewer systems in the country, calling our stress level “critical” and citing sewage overflows and a lack of investment as primary culprits.
Many consent decree deadlines culminated at the five year mark, especially Early Action Projects, where we would hope to see more progress than we have.
With water rates rising, Houstonians deserve to know that those funds are moving the needle on the $9 billion infrastructure overhaul the consent decree demands.
In addition to the costly daily fines for non-compliance, failure to meet the requirements of the consent decree creates legal risk for the city
Houston is in the middle of budget season with funding planning for infrastructure projects to follow. This is a time in which the city will evaluate how and where to spend its limited funds and what projects to prioritize. With every day compliance is delayed and another sewage overflow reported, project costs increase and new penalties are assessed by the state and federal governments. Inflation means that every year of deferred repair raises the ultimate cost to taxpayers. And we know the city has already accrued more than a million dollars in fees and likely twice this amount since 2021. And failure to meet consent decree requirements creates compounding legal and fiscal risks for the city.
“Water fees are going up, and Houstonians deserve to know the money they are paying is going to improve the systems and infrastructure it is intended for and that investment is being made efficiently in terms of time and costs. As the city assesses water and wastewater fees, we hope city council and Public Works will follow in the footsteps of places like San Antonio and Austin that have programs addressing affordability for residents with low incomes.”
— Kristen Schlemmer, Co-Executive Director, Bayou City Waterkeeper
BAYOU CITY WATERKEEPER’S REQUESTS TO HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL
Bayou City Waterkeeper is formally asking Houston City Council to:
1. Hold Houston Public Works accountable to its legal obligations under the 2021 consent decree and ensure ratepayers’ dollars are working toward compliance.
2. Require Houston Public Works to provide more detailed, verified reporting including specific completion dates, inspection methodologies, and confirmation that the most critical areas are being prioritized.
3. Use the current budget process to ensure Houston Public Works has the resources – beyond those generated by water rate increases – it needs to accelerate compliance — and to insist on transparency in how those resources are deployed.
QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
Bayou City Waterkeeper encourages reporters covering this story to seek answers to the following:
Has the EPA ever formally flagged the city for non-compliance with the Consent Decree?
The city has paid $1,266,400 in penalties to the DOJ as of June 2024, according to Bayou City Waterkeeper’s internal analysis, with a comparable amount likely paid to TCEQ. What fines have been assessed since then, and from what funding source does the city pay them?
What did the city spend on Consent Decree progress in each fiscal year, and on what?
Is it accurate that total gravity pipe mileage dropped 97 miles between 2024 and 2025? If so, why?
For the 4 out of 9 priority capacity areas (specifically areas 1, 5/6/12, and 8) that have been “in design” for years with no construction start dates, what are their planned construction start dates?
Why were some areas identified by the city as “capacity-constrained” in the Consent Decree then later concluded to require no further work (e.g., areas 4a, 7, and 9)?
Are permit violations associated with the city’s 39 wastewater treatment plants improving? (TPDES permit data available from TCEQ.)
Are sanitary sewer overflows decreasing in the 9 priority basins, or are they shifting to other locations in the system?
See here for the background. I don’t have anything to add to this, I share the concerns and encourage the city to meet its obligations. The Chron has more.
That John Whitmire guy is quite the Mayor.
Good thing we got Main Street cleaned up for the soccer fans who’ll be at NRG.