City of Pearland

SOAH Docket No. 582-16-5061

TCEQ Docket No. 2016-0160-WR

Application No. 13071

APPLICATION.

City of Pearland, 3519 Liberty Drive, Pearland, Texas 77581, Applicant, seeks a Water Use Permit pursuant to Texas Water Code §§11.121, 11.042, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Rules 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §295.1, et seq.

City of Pearland has applied for a Water Use Permit to use the bed and banks of an unnamed tributary of Clear Creek and Clear Creek, San Jacinto-Brazos Coastal Basin, Brazoria County to convey return flows from the City's Far Northwest Wastewater Treatment Facility for off-channel recreation storage and subsequent diversion.

The Applicant has applied for a Water Use Permit to divert and use not to exceed 280 acre-feet per year of those historically discharged surface water and groundwater-based return flows from the Far Northwest Wastewater Treatment Facility permitted under TPDES Permit No. WQ0010134008. The Applicant also seeks to use the bed and banks of an unnamed tributary of Clear Creek and Clear Creek, San Jacinto-Brazos Coastal Basin to convey return flows.

The return flows will be diverted from a point on Clear Creek at a maximum diversion rate of 1.546 cfs (694 gpm) for storage in off-channel recreation reservoirs and subsequent diversion for agricultural purposes to irrigate 280 acres of land in Brazoria County, Texas.

The Applicant estimates that a maximum of 60% of the return flows originate from surface water.

The Applicant and Country Place Master Community Association (CPMCA) have entered into a Transferred Water Agreement by and between Country Place Master Community Association and City of Pearland, Texas, as CPMCA owns the land inundated by the off-channel reservoirs and the land to be irrigated. The reservoirs are located approximately 29 miles north, northeast of the City of Angleton in Brazoria County, and described as follows:

Amenity Lake No. 1, is located at 29.584942°N Latitude, 95.375078°W Longitude also bearing N 80°W, 1,442.31 feet from the southeast corner of the F. Drake Original Survey, Abstract No. 503.

Amenity Lake No. 2, is located at 29.583788°N Latitude, 95.383122°W Longitude also bearing N 80°W, 1,442.31 feet from the southeast corner of the F. Drake Original Survey, Abstract No. 503.

Amenity Lake No. 3, is located at 29.582515°N Latitude, 95.364149°W Longitude also bearing S 74°E, 2,153.98 feet from the southeast corner of the F. Drake Original Survey, Abstract No. 503.

Lake No. 1, is located at 29.579256°N Latitude, 95.375280°W Longitude also bearing S 42°W, 2,378.17 feet from the southeast corner of the F. Drake Original Survey, Abstract No. 503.

Lake No. 10/11, is located at 29.582545°N Latitude, 95.368908°W Longitude also bearing S 42°E, 847.47 feet from the southeast corner of the F. Drake Original Survey, Abstract No. 503.

The proposed discharge point is located on an unnamed tributary of Clear Creek at 29.579967°N Latitude, 95.409467°W Longitude also bearing S 74°E, 969 feet from the northwest corner of the T.C.R.R Co Original Survey, Abstract No. 678, approximately 28.5 miles north of the City of Angleton in Brazoria County, Texas.

The proposed diversion point is located on Clear Creek at 29.585118°N Latitude, 95.366299°W Longitude also bearing N 79°E, 1,395.60 feet from the southeast corner of the F. Drake Original Survey, Abstract No. 503, approximately 28.8 miles north of the City of Angleton in Brazoria County, Texas.

The application was received on August 1, 2013, and additional information and fees were received on December 13, 2013, February 25, 2014, and June 3, 2015. The application was declared administratively complete and filed with the Office of the Chief Clerk on March 7, 2014.

The Executive Director has prepared a draft permit, which, if approved, would contain special conditions, including but not limited to, streamflow restrictions and recorded daily measurement of return flows. The application and Executive Director's draft permit are available for viewing and copying at the Office of the Chief Clerk, 12100 Park 35 Circle, Building F, Austin, Texas 78753.

CONTESTED CASE HEARING.

SOAH will conduct a preliminary hearing on this application at:

10:00 a.m. - August 15, 2016

William P. Clements Building

300 West 15th Street, 4th Floor

Austin, Texas 78701

The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to establish jurisdiction, name the parties, establish a procedural schedule for the remainder of the proceeding, allow an opportunity for settlement discussions, and to address other matters as determined by the judge. The evidentiary hearing phase of the proceeding will be similar to a civil trial in state district court.

The hearing will be conducted in accordance with Chapter 2001, Texas Government Code; Chapter 11, Texas Water Code; and the procedural rules of the TCEQ and SOAH, including 30 TAC Chapter 80 and 1 TAC Chapter 155.

The applicant is automatically a party in this hearing. If anyone else wishes to be a party to the hearing, he or she must attend the hearing and show how he or she would be adversely affected by the application in a way not common to members of the general public. Any person may attend the hearing and any person may request to be a party. Only persons named as parties may participate at the hearing.

INFORMATION.

If you need more information about the hearing process for this application, please call the Public Education Program, toll free, at (800) 687-4040. General information about the TCEQ can be found at http://www.tceq.texas.gov/.

Persons with disabilities who need special accommodations at the hearing should call the SOAH Docketing Department at (512) 475-3445, at least one week prior to the hearing.

Issued: July 13, 2016

TRD-201603583

Bridget C. Bohac

Chief Clerk

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Filed: July 20, 2016