WACO, Texas — A new proposed bill in the Texas legislature would alter the permitting and performance system for the Waco water supply.
Current regulations have worked to protect the North Bosque watershed, Lake Waco and the Waco water supply from pollution caused by dairy farms.
House Bill 2827 would change the current soil testing system for certain concentrated animal feeding operations by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
This is a possibility that City of Waco Mayor, Dillon Meek, is very concerned about.
"This would be a backwards step for water quality in our community," Meek said.
Before 2001, run off from dairy farm's cow manure spread into the North Bosque River and Lake Waco, polluting the Waco water supply.
"If you've been around since the early 2000s you remember that Waco water had a smell and an odor that wasn't positive," Meek said.
But that same year, the city advocated for change and imposed new regulations.
"We are just trying to make sure that the improvements that we've gained in our water quality don't revert back with the revision of these regulations," Meek said.
Now, 20 years later, those improvements are in jeopardy.
House Bill 2827 was proposed by Texas representative DeWayne Burns. It is a bill that the Animal Legal Defense Fund strongly opposes. Program Leader Tom Linney has concerns in three main categories.
"The permitting system will become more lax," Linney said. "There will be no requirement for operators to be trained on animal waste management. And then third, the sampling of soil."
These are all areas that affect water quality in the city. Bradley Ford, Waco's city manager, feels the timing of this proposed bill is concerning.
"The North Bosque watershed is where about 70% of Waco's water flows from into Lake Waco and that watershed right now has about 75 dairy cows in it," Ford said. "Which is about the same amount as 2000 when the initial regulations were put in place."
So, what happens if this bill is approved?
"The risk is that if this bill does get implemented and we revert back to a regulatory system that existed in the 2000's the water quality will revert back as well to a lesser quality than we have today," Meek said.
Meek feels 22 years of work will go to waste, and that smell will slowly return to the city.
If the bill is passed, it will take effect September 1, 2023.
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