May 6, 2025 – A state district judge in Austin today ruled that the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District must release details of a settlement it negotiated in secret with Lennar Corp.’s proposed wastewater operator for the controversial Guajolote Ranch development in northwest Bexar County.
The development would include 2,900 homes on about 1,100 acres west of Scenic Loop and Babcock roads, and release an average of 1 million gallons per day of treated sewage into the Helotes Creek watershed, which recharges up to 15% of the Edwards Aquifer.
Just last year, Metro Health, the city’s public health agency, was granted standing by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to contest a permit for the wastewater operator, Municipal Operations LLC, arguing it had statutory authority to prohibit potential pollution of San Antonio’s water supply. It was to have joined the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance (GEAA), the city of Grey Forest and landowner Ann Toepperwein in a contested-case hearing before the state on Feb. 18-20.
Instead, Metro Health quietly settled with Municipal Operations in December, without the knowledge of San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and city council, and it refused to make details public. Both GEAA and the San Antonio Express-News filed open records requests, and on March 21, the state attorney general’s office ruled for the settlement’s release.
The city let six days go by before Municipal Operations filed for the temporary restraining order on March 27 – with the attorney general’s office and, ironically, Metro Health as defendants. GEAA filed a plea for intervention in the case.
In a hearing today, 250th State District Court Judge Cory Liu denied the temporary restraining order, with timing on release and viewing of the settlement pending. Had he ruled to sustain it, a trial on a permanent injunction would have taken place on Oct. 27 – well after the TCEQ is expected to rule on the permit, which likely would have rendered the issue moot.
“Today, the court ruled in favor of transparency, granting the release of the confidential settlement terms between the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District and Municipal Operations, LLC,” said Randy Neumann, chair of the steering committee of nonprofit Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance, a neighborhood group supporting and raising funds for the fight. “This decision provides the public with crucial insight into the agreement concerning the proposed discharge of 1 million gallons of treated sewage per day into Helotes Creek. The potential impact on the Trinity and Edwards Aquifers remains a significant concern for local residents, scientists and environmental experts alike.
“We appreciate the court’s recognition of the community’s right to access this information,” he said. “The Scenic Loop-Helotes Creek Alliance remains steadfast in our commitment to protecting the integrity of our aquifers. We urge the citizens of Bexar County and the 12 other Texas counties that rely on the Edwards Aquifer to thoroughly review the released settlement details and actively engage in informed discussions about the environmental implications of the Guajolote Ranch project.”
“GEAA and our partners in this cause were gratified by the ruling that denied a motion from Municipal Operations LLC for a temporary restraining order to remain in effect until October 2025,” said Annalisa Peace, executive director of GEAA. “This means that the negotiated settlement between Municipal Operations and the City of San Antonio will be released for our viewing. For GEAA and the city of Grey Forest to have access to this information is essential as we navigate our way through this contested case process.”
Land application still would be bad
According to Nirenberg, who opposes the development and also expressed displeasure with the settlement, the agreement extracts some protective relief, though he said he was prohibited from disclosing details.
Whatever was agreed upon, the contested-case hearing proceeded with Municipal Operations’ application to discharge effluent directly into Helotes Creek, which recharges the Trinity Glen Rose Aquifer, the primary water source for the immediate area. The creek also flows across the contributing zone leading to the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer.
However, during the hearing, an attorney for Municipal Operations said at various times that once the discharge permit is approved, the operator would file to “reuse” the effluent. Typically, that involves applying the effluent to the land’s surface. Approval of the discharge permit still would be required first.
Neumann said that land application of 1 million gallons per day of treated sewage would still degrade groundwater in the Trinity and Edwards Aquifers, as it would seep through the porous karst limestone formation and into the aquifers below, and likely still collect in Helotes Creek.
He pointed to a study by Southwest Research Institute, funded through the city of San Antonio’s own Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan, finding that any wastewater treatment type from residential development in the Helotes Creek watershed, including land application, would “significantly degrade the watershed and the quality of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer.”
Analysis of a longstanding Trinity Glen Rose Aquifer monitoring well just downstream of the Guajolote property has indicated dramatic rises in water levels after rainfall, indicating that what falls on the surface in the area is quickly transferred to groundwater, just as scientists say.
A study of a similar karst limestone formation in Canada – recounted in a presentation to Alamo Area Master Naturalists by geoscientist George Veni and mentioned prominently in an editorial by the Express-News editorial board – showed how contaminants from effluent applied to the surface of a farm reached area wells in a matter of days, killing seven people and making 2,300 others gravely ill.
Just two months ago, similar circumstances in Johnson County, Texas, led to groundwater contamination with so-called “forever chemicals” or PFAS, including livestock deaths and PFAS found in animal tissues.
Likewise, here, Neumann said, “Many people could get extremely sick from E. coli poisoning, and some of those could die. Others could suffer long-term effects from forever chemicals and pharmaceuticals that wouldn’t be removed in the wastewater treatment process. We’re not willing to risk that.”
And he noted there still would be an issue with stormwater runoff down Helotes Creek. Pesticides, herbicides, automotive waste, household chemicals, pet waste, lawn waste and other pollution that would wash down the creek from the upgradient development would add to well pollution, flooding and the ruination of recreational spaces.
TCEQ’s abysmal monitoring, enforcement
Any agreement for monitoring in the settlement would be suspect at best, based on TCEQ’s abysmal record of monitoring for and enforcing wastewater permit effluent exceedances.
During the pandemic, the Save Barton Creek Association accessed publicly available data from the TCEQ to study just how well the 48 Texas Hill Country municipal sewer plants that discharge to streams, creeks and rivers were doing.
They found that 81% had exceeded at least one pollutant limit since 2017. The average number of exceedances over all the plants was 8.6 – and the plants averaged 188 days with exceedances.
And yet, of seven plants with 500 or more days of exceedances, only four received formal enforcement action and monetary penalties. Of 15 with 50-500 days of exceedances, only six were sanctioned; and of 16 with 1-50 days of exceedances, just one was sanctioned. Just nine plants had no effluent exceedances, though two of those faced sanctions. One other plant received a formal action, but no penalty.
In May 2024, and despite threats to sue the central Texas city of Liberty Hill to come into compliance with permit limits after five years of exceedances, TCEQ actually doubled the city’s daily allowed discharge to a local river, but set phosphorus limits its mayor said would be impossible to achieve.
The Scenic Loop – Helotes Creek Alliance represents the largest neighborhood by square mile recognized by the San Antonio Neighborhood & Housing Services Department, a wide corridor along Scenic Loop Road from Bandera Road to north of Babcock Road.
CONTACT:
Scenic Loop – Helotes Creek Alliance
Randy Neumann, 210-867-2826, uhit@aol.com
Stuart Birnbaum, 210-355-9974, stuart.birnbaum@sbcglobal.net
Michael Wm. Schick, 571-296-9601, mschick@aol.com
Lynette Munson (daughter of Ann Toepperwein, with property abutting Guajolote Ranch), 210-317-8415, aniton2000@aol.com
Steve Lee, 210-415-2402, slee_78023@yahoo.com
Grey Forest
Mayor Paul Garro, 210-710-0742, mayor@greyforest-tx.gov
Councilman Michael Phillips, 301-910-9235, mphillips@greyforest-tx.gov
OTHER RECENT PRESS RELEASES:
3/24 — Legislative resolution urges TCEQ to take ‘immediate and decisive action’ to protect the Edwards Aquifer from development: https://www.scenicloop.org/legislative-resolution-to-protect-the-edwards-aquifer-from-development/
3/14 — TCEQ’s Office of Public Interest Counsel recommends denying a permit for Guajolote Ranch: https://www.scenicloop.org/OPIC-Recommends-Denying-Guajolote-Permit/
2/2 — Million Gallon March draws about 300, Nirenberg urges residents to fight on: https://www.scenicloop.org/post/1483/million-gallon-march/