Nixon citizens voice opposition to septage

FLORESVILLE – Only time will tell if Gordon Swenson, the owner of a piece of property just south of Nixon where he plans to spread raw sewage, will receive approval for his permit application to pump domestic septage onto his land.

And only time will tell if anxieties of the citizens of Nixon, which straddles the Gonzales-Wilson county line, will be relieved over whether 23 million gallons of septage will be cut off at the pass. The overriding concern of Nixon citizens is that septage would be hazardous to the area.

The permit, which is in the final step needed from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), was the subject of a town hall meeting held at the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office District Courtroom late last week.

As many as 50 people united in their opposition to the project, attended the meeting to address TCEQ representatives, with no less than 15 of them giving statements of disapproval. Among them was Gonzales County precinct 4 commissioner Bud Wuest.

“In the event of severe weather, such as heavy rainfall, this water could carry bacteria and other harmful elements into Elm Creek, which dumps into Sandies Creek, which goes into the Guadalupe River,” Wuest said. “These tributaries, especially the Guadalupe, are places where people go fishing and swimming, and where cattle get their water. I’m not opposed to someone making money, but I don’t want people and animals contaminated and getting sick in the process.”

“It was a good meeting,” Nixon city administrator George Blanch decided. “A lot of people from the Nixon community as well as Wilson County showed up.”

The decision, which ultimately lies in TCEQ’s hands, has yet to be made. But Blanch and Wuest are hopeful and optimistic that the commission will side with the community.

“If TCEQ grants the permit, the people of Nixon and Wilson County can still appeal it,” Blanch said. “But we’re hoping it doesn’t come to that.”

“What do I think TCEQ will decide?” Wuest asked. “I don’t know, but we’ve done the best we can to discourage the permit. We don’t want our streams and river contaminated.”

Last October, Swenson, who lives in the Austin area, submitted an application to TCEQ seeking authorization to dump domestic septage on a 298-acre section of his property.

Swenson owns a 401-acre tract of land located on County Road 483 just south of the state Highway 97 and South Rancho Road intersection about a mile south of Nixon in Wilson County.

But when word got around the community that the “dump” was a work in progress, citizens rallied together and signed a petition protesting Swenson’s application.

The city of Nixon provided TCEQ with the petition before the Jan. 2 deadline, and TCEQ responded with a letter suggesting a town hall meeting be convened with Nixon citizens to discuss the project. Now that they’ve taken this next step in the process, all the Nixon residents can do is wait and see.

“We have done just about everything we can,” Nixon mayor Maria Blanch said. “We don’t want health hazards in our community.”

Domestic septage typically contains urine, feces, toilet paper, tampons, condoms, blood, pharmaceuticals, bacteria, viruses and parasites, and may contain human tissue, heavy metals or even radioactive material, since it is not tested for radioactivity.

The consensus among Nixon residents is that the dumping of domestic waste within the Nixon-Smiley CISD boundaries and within close proximity to its schools presents a danger to public health and to the health of the Nixon population, especially children. Many citizens maintain that such dumping could contaminate the community’s drinking water and create noxious odors that would be detrimental to the learning environment, and that the risks associated with dumping domestic waste within the school district’s boundaries could result in other serious student health risks.

J.D. Story, who owns property directly across from the proposed septic site, listed as reasons to oppose the dumping “the very real possibility of contamination of our groundwater resources from which those in the area, including the cities of Nixon and Smiley, obtain drinking water, as well as the contamination of downstream properties, including stock tanks, Elm Creek, Sandies Creek, Willow Creek and the Guadalupe River; danger to the health of domestic livestock and wildlife in the area; danger to public health; unacceptable odor levels; and flies and other insect nuisances.”

The community’s concern is not only for the nuisance levels, but also the possibility of the spread of disease. Citizens also believe the site would pose a risk to hunting and tourism, imposing economic hardship on residents of Nixon and even Smiley.