Hearings are beginning with the state to decide if the Guajolote Ranch subdivision can be built over the Edwards Aquifer.
HELOTES, Texas — Homeowners and environmentalists are coming together to push back against one million gallons of wastewater going into Helotes Creek every single day. Hearings are beginning with the state to decide if the Guajolote Ranch subdivision can be built over the Edwards Aquifer.
Considering two million people drink from the Edwards Aquifer, this has been a big deal between the community and the Lennar Corporation.
Lennar owns 1,100 acres between scenic loop road and Babcock Road, and that’s where they want to build nearly 3,000 homes. To do this, they would need to build a wastewater plant where the treated sewage water would go into the Helotes Creek.
A Lennar spokesperson did tell homeowners in the past this was a better route to take than making a septic system.
On the other end, the greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance argues the treated sewage would degrade their drinking water.
At the beginning of the month, nearly 200 people including Mayor Ron Nirenberg joined a million-gallon march in Helotes to voice their concerns.
“We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars of a community to protect that water supply and we need now, TCEQ to do its job as a regulator to prevent dangerous development form contaminating our water,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
“This isn’t about ‘not in my back yard,” said Michael Schick, who owns property next to Helotes Creek. “This is about ‘not in my water faucet. And it’s not about ,oh, you’ve ruined my view. It’s, ‘oh, you have ruined my health.”
The case puts Lennar homes against the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, and Lynette Munson, a homeowner owning more than a 100 acres near the proposed construction area.
A state appointed judge will be over the case but TCEQ commissioners will have the final say on the sewage plant being built.
The hearing will start Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. Its all online and is expected to last three days.
We’ll be following this story for updates.