WILSON COUNTY, Texas – A KSAT investigation has now made its way to the state legislature.
Six months ago, KSAT began reporting on dirty, undrinkable water in several Floresville-area neighborhoods.
The water was mud brown and over-chlorinated. Residents in the neighborhood said it was undrinkable.
The water came from wells owned by Central States Water Resources (CSWR), a private company.
That led KSAT to another CSWR-owned well in a second Floresville-area neighborhood. Residents in that neighborhood also complained about the same dirty water, a monthlong boil water notice and a lack of communication from CSWR.
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Two neighbors in the Arrowhead subdivision were upset by what they called CSWR’s lack of communication and decided to take up their own cause.
After Arrowhead resident Carrie Wilcoxon’s protests, a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) investigation and several KSAT stories, CSWR made some changes.
The company installed automatic flushers and joined the state’s TOP program, which helps water companies remain compliant.
However, CSWR did not replace a sand filtration system that neighbors said is necessary to fully clean their water.
“This is today’s water,” Wilcoxson said, showing her bathtub filled up. “There’s a green, bluish hue. That’s the iron in the water. If I leave it here for a while, it will settle at the bottom. While it’s not blood brown, this is not drinkable water. I still have water bottles that I drink out of.”
Wilcoxson then reached out to state Senators, representatives, the state attorney general’s office and the TCEQ, among others.
The persistence of neighbors such as Wilcoxson and Michelle Schraner, coupled with KSAT’s six stories, garnered the attention of state Senator Judith Zaffrini’s (D-Laredo) office.
Zaffrini’s office responded to Wilcoxson and joined their cause by filing four bills.
“My bills would help ensure water utility providers respond more effectively and are held accountable,” state Sen. Zaffrini said in a statement to KSAT.
“To see legislation now going through the legislative process as a result of all this, it’s mind-blowing,” Wilcoxson said.
The first bill is SB 1662, which has passed through the state Senate and has been assigned to a committee in the Texas House of Representatives.
The bill addresses a situation in which a customer files a complaint against a water company, and the TCEQ is called in to investigate.
Right now, if a water company is being investigated, the state can give the company as much notice as they want before they go conducts tests on the water.
SB 1662 would mandate TCEQ give no more than 24 hours notice before it tests the water.
“I made a complaint on September the 17th. That investigator did not come out to test the well until nine days later,” Wilcoxson told KSAT. “In that time, the water company had time to essentially clean up the water.”
Wilcoxson told that story while testifying to the state Senate committee.
“The water had been flushed and had been shocked with chlorine,” Wilcoxson told the committee.
The committee voted in favor of the bill, which sent it to the House.
“It’s encouraging,” Wilcoxson said. “It looks like it’s likely to pass.”
The next bill, SB 1663, also passed through the state Senate and is onto the House.
This bill would require companies and the TCEQ to alert people sooner if their water is contaminated.
SB 1663 is a direct result of the original situation in the Arrowhead subdivision that prompted KSAT’s first story.
“There was E. coli in our water supply distribution system, which had been present for at least four days, and they had not notified us,” Wilcoxson said. “So, this bill will require the water company to provide notification.”
As for the last two bills Zaffrini filed — Senate Bill 2497 and Senate Bill 2499 — there has not been much movement.
“The chances of these making it through the legislative session are very slim,” Wilcoxson said. “Not entirely impossible.”
Wilcoxson expressed her disappointment, particular for SB 2497. This bill, she said, pertains to water quality.
If a company is consistently failing to keep well water clean determined by a specific set of criteria, SB 2497 would force the company to install a sand filtration system.
“A sand filtration is just a big tank of sand that the water goes through,” Wilcoxson said. “It captures that iron.”
When CSWR brought the well in the Arrowhead subdivision, the company removed an old sand filtration system they said was outdated and did not work. However, CSWR did not replace it with an updated sand filtration system.
CSWR confirmed to KSAT that the sand filtration system would be more expensive than the polymer system they are using instead.
Residents like Wilcoxson believe their water quality would clear up and potentially drinkable again if there was a sand filtration system in place.
“If this law were already in place, CSWR would be required right now to have a sand filtration system,” Wilcoxson said.
While Wilcoxson does not believe SB 2497 will pass, she said the filing paves the way for Zaffrini to bring it back next session for potential passage down the line.
“That would be huge because no other state has this,” Wilcoxson said. “It would set a precedent.”
SB 2499, if passed, would ask the state to take into account a company’s previous water quality compliance records when considering a rate hike on its customers.
Wilcoxson said it would also prevent companies from including their financial penalties in their rate hikes.
“I can’t even believe we have to say this, but if you get financial penalties as a water company, you can’t then push that financial burden onto the consumers,” Wilcoxson said.
Similar to SB 2497, Wilcoxson does not believe SB 2499 will make much headway in the state legislature.
Each bill has less than a month to make it through the house, or they will die.
If they don’t make it through both the senate and house, they could be brought back up during the next legislative session.
More coverage of this investigation on KSAT:
