The Nueces River Authority has received a $5 million grant from the Texas General Land Office’s (GLO) Coastal Management Program for a “project of special merit.’. The NRA will use the funds to purchase land that will host a state-of the-art and expandable Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility near Robstown that will allow for the replacement of four obsolete and inadequate smaller facilities built in the 1980s.
“One noteworthy outcome of the new facility will be to improve water quality in Petronila Creek,” said John J. Byrum, executive director of the Nueces River Authority. “Halting Petronila Creek’s nutrient loading into Baffin Bay is of paramount
importance to restoring the ‘Jewel of the Texas coast’. The new facility will also help restore water quality in Nueces Bay, Corpus Christi Bay and Oso Bay.
The water quality in Petronila Creek and its outfall in Baffin Bay have been recognized as Texas’ most deserving Hydrologic Unit stream on the Texas coast. This grant from the GLO will allow this project to leverage existing regional
partnerships through multi-faceted efforts to improve water quality conditions in Baffin and Oso Bay and the feeding streams of Petronila Creek, San Fernando Creek, and Oso Creek
“As Texas Land Commissioner and someone who spent more than 12 years living along the Texas coast, I know this project is critical to both the region and the residents in this community,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “The Texas General
Land Office is proud to work with the Nueces River Authority to meet the water utility service needs for 21 counties. Our agency is thrilled to play a role in helping to restore the precious aquatic ecosystems of regional, national, and international
importance in the Texas Coastal Bend region.”
Project Description:
Petronila Creek was first identified as impaired in 2010 in the Texas Integrated Report and 303(d) List. Several of the Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) in Nueces, Jim Wells, Duval, and Kleberg counties have aging and/or failing mechanical equipment resulting in the facilities struggling to meet Texas water quality standards. All WWTPs in these communities send effluent downstream to Baffin Bay via the Petronila and San Fernando (Caretta) Creek watersheds, with some actively sending
untreated sewage downstream during mechanical failure and/or high rainfall events causing sanitary sewer overflows and significant water quality concerns in the region. The NRA is working towards the ultimate goal of constructing a Regional WWTP and green stormwater infrastructure that would enhance treatment capacity of effluent and nonpoint source stormwater contaminants emanating from wastewater, agriculture, and wildlife to ultimately reduce the amount of nutrients and bacteria flowing into the Baffin Bay watershed.
This initiative is aimed at mitigating future environmental and economic damage from increasing stormwater that is inevitable given the age of the infrastructure and the limitations on local governments staffing and funding capacity.
The NRA will use Coastal Management Program (CMP) Cycle 29 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) funds to
1) acquire multiple tracts (collectively referred to as “Properties”) to include ~50 acres from the City of Robstown (Robstown, TX) and ~250 acres from a private landowner (Driscoll, TX);
2) procure an engineer to complete an environmental assessment, engineering designs, and obtain required federal, state, and local permitting and environmental clearances for multiple wetland cells, and public access facilities and features at the
Driscoll Property; and
3) obtain required federal, state, and local permitting, consultations, and environmental clearances for future construction and discharge activities of wetland cells on the Driscoll Property.
