| (a) The commission or executive director may issue emergency orders, and the commission may issue temporary orders, under this subchapter only if it is found that: (1) the order is necessary to enable action to be taken more expeditiously than is otherwise provided by Texas Water Code, Chapter 26 to effectuate the policy and purposes of that chapter; (2) for discharges into water in the state, the discharge is unavoidable to: (A) prevent loss of life, serious injury, or severe property damage; or (B) to ameliorate serious drought conditions, to the extent consistent with the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act for authorization of the NPDES program. (3) for discharges adjacent to waters in the state, the discharge is unavoidable to prevent loss of life, serious injury, severe property damage, to ameliorate serious drought conditions, or to make necessary and
unforeseen repairs to a facility; (4) there is no feasible alternative to the proposed discharge; (5) the discharge will not cause significant hazard to human life and health, unreasonable damage to property of persons other than the applicant, or unreasonable economic loss to persons other than the applicant; (6) the proposed discharge will not present a significant hazard either to the uses that may be made of the receiving water after the discharge, or the area surrounding the discharge; (7) the dates on which the proposed discharge will begin and end and the volume and quality of the proposed discharge are reasonable and attainable; and (8) the measures proposed to minimize the volume and duration of the discharge and the measures proposed to maximize the waste treatment efficiency of units not taken out of service or facilities provided for interim use are reasonable.
(b) The issuing authority may issue emergency orders and temporary orders to discharge waste or pollutants into water in the state under this subchapter only if the discharge is from an NPDES or Texas pollutant discharge elimination system-permitted treatment facility.
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