82R6024 JAM-F
 
  By: Watson S.B. No. 853
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a restriction on permits authorizing direct discharges
  of waste or pollutants into water in certain areas associated with
  the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 26, Water Code, is amended
  by adding Section 26.0462 to read as follows:
         Sec. 26.0462.  RESTRICTIONS ON PERMITS FOR DIRECT DISCHARGES
  OF WASTE OR POLLUTANTS INTO WATER IN CERTAIN ZONES OF BARTON SPRINGS
  SEGMENT OF EDWARDS AQUIFER. (a) In this section, "advanced water
  treatment facility" means a facility that uses water and wastewater
  treatment technology that achieves a level of effluent quality
  that:
               (1)  achieves the primary and secondary drinking water
  standards promulgated by the commission;
               (2)  does not contribute to adverse toxic effects on
  aquatic life in the receiving water;
               (3)  does not contribute to adverse toxic effects on
  human health resulting from the consumption of aquatic organisms or
  water from, or from water recreation in, the receiving water; and
               (4)  does not alter nutrient concentrations in the
  receiving water during non-storm conditions.
         (b)  The commission may not:
               (1)  issue a new permit authorizing the direct
  discharge of waste or pollutants into any water in:
                     (A)  the portion of the recharge zone of the
  Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer that is under the
  jurisdiction of the Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation
  District; or
                     (B)  the contributing zone associated with the
  recharge zone described by Paragraph (A); or
               (2)  amend a permit issued before September 1, 2011, to
  authorize an increase in the amount of waste or pollutants that may
  be directly discharged into any water described by Subdivision (1).
         (c)  This section does not affect the authority of the
  commission to authorize:
               (1)  the direct discharge of water into the
  contributing zone described by Subsection (b)(1)(B) from an
  advanced water treatment facility under a Texas pollutant discharge
  elimination system permit if all requirements for the discharge
  permit are satisfied; or
               (2)  stormwater and certain non-stormwater discharges
  as specified in:
                     (A)  the commission's individual permits for
  municipal separate storm sewer systems; and
                     (B)  the commission's general permits for
  stormwater and associated non-stormwater discharges from small
  municipal separate storm sewer systems, industrial facilities, and
  construction activities.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to an application for a permit or permit amendment that is submitted
  to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the
  effective date of this Act. An application for a permit or permit
  amendment that was submitted to the Texas Commission on
  Environmental Quality before the effective date of this Act is
  governed by the law in effect at the time the application was filed,
  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2011.