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A sign welcomes visitors to Brazoria on May 26.

A sign welcomes visitors to Brazoria on May 26.

BRAZORIA — The tunnels of Brazoria’s wastewater treatment plant are becoming more clear after gaining permission last week to advance toward buying the proper equipment to continue to work on the sewer plant.

The city has been battling the problem since the after effects of Hurricane Harvey, but have made strides to improve the water.

The city finished cleaning the sewer plant around the time he took office on May 16, Brazoria city mayor Phillip Ray said.

Although the wastewater plant is doing well, there are small hurdles they have dealt with in keeping it clean, he said.

The city attempted to save money, but spent a little more on nitrogen, according to Ray.

Other battles they have endured are going through weather conditions that force some debris into the pipes.

“When it rains, we’re getting an earthy smell that we’re not sure where it comes from but with this drought being so bad, it may dislodge something in the pipe,” Ray said.

The environmental impact study conducted by the city’s engineering firm will go to the GLO to verify they’re not intending to hurt the environment, he said.

“When you get 30 percent of the design, you’re supposed to explain your environmental impact on the area and so when they gave us permission, they also gave us permission to start our environmental impact,” Ray said.

Strands Associates is an engineering group that does required testing and presents the documentation to the city council and will read through, agree and sign it and send it to the GLO to bless it.

The city was awarded a $3.1 million grant from the Texas General Land Office to work on the citywide wastewater and sanitary sewer improvements on November 10, 2021.

Although there have been miscommunications, the city and GLO are heading in the right direction.

Brittany Eck, Texas General Land Office director of communications ,said the city began working on the project before all of the paperwork was officially signed.

“We were notified at that (city council) meeting that they had already started performing some work on the project, because there was an issue that needed to be addressed more immediately,” Eck said. “There was an issue with potentially some spillage or something along those lines, and they needed to address that and these funds will eventually address the overarching problem that they needed to treat this situation at that time.”

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, had an agreement with the city not to fine them for failing to meet the parameters, saying they spent at least $150,000 per year on the city’s sewer system.

The work and the $800,000 approved from the city to fund it had been a stop-gap measure to keep the plant in operation until the GLO released the grant money, which was approved in December.

Brazoria plans to use the grant to overhaul the plant, which has had serious problems processing wastewater since at least 2017.

After discussions with the GLO and the TCEQ there seems to be a vision for the future of the treatment plan.

Even with differences and mistimings, the city of Brazoria and GLO believe they have a strong partnership.

“I think that we have an excellent working relationship with the city of Brazoria and the county at large,” Eck said. “I think that we developed a lot of trust between the two entities,”

Eck believes the most challenging part of the project has been mixing efficiency with persistence.

The goal is to ensure the city has the correct design to accomplish the projects as quickly and efficiently as possible, but also do it in a manner that preserves that utility for the long term, she said.

Ray is hopeful that they can get a review to put out bids toward the end of January and be completed near the end of the first quarter 2023.

“I’m hoping we have people on the ground late March early April,” he said.

Andrew Tineo is a reporter for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0151.

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