County chronology describes August and September releases — including a Sept. 1 entry saying a TCEQ investigator “confirmed discharge” — while Aqua says no recent unauthorized discharge occurred
HOOD COUNTY — September 24th, 2026AD — Aqua Texas is disputing Hood County records that describe a series of late-summer wastewater releases at the company’s Canyon Creek treatment plant on Lake Granbury.
The county chronology records another release Aug. 26, an additional discharge Aug. 31, a Sept. 1 site visit in which a TCEQ investigator reportedly “confirmed discharge,” and a Sept. 2 notification of “yet another discharge into the lake.”
Aqua says those events were not unauthorized discharges.
In a statement sent to Hood County Express Thursday morning, Aqua said there was “no recent spill or unauthorized discharge” from the Canyon Creek facility into Lake Granbury during August or September.
The company also said it met with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Brazos River Authority and that neither agency has alleged that a recent unauthorized discharge occurred.
Aqua said it is working with officials to correct what it described as inaccurate reporting.
HCE has not yet received direct clarification from TCEQ or BRA resolving the conflict between Aqua’s statement and the Hood County records.
The disagreement follows years of documented flow and compliance problems at Canyon Creek and an April 2026 incident that TCEQ correspondence identifies as an unauthorized discharge of untreated wastewater into Lake Granbury.
The Canyon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is operated by Aqua Texas, Inc. The Canyon Creek Property Owners Association does not operate the plant.
HIGH FLOWS WERE DOCUMENTED YEARS EARLIER
Hood County Environmental Health records reach back to May 2022, when county personnel contacted BRA seeking a meeting with TCEQ about the Canyon Creek wastewater plant.
County staff also contacted TCEQ that day concerning a sewer-line break.
The county chronology later records two TCEQ citations dated September 8th, 2023.
One concerned failure to report sludge disposal.
The other concerned additional treatment and collection facilities after plant flows had reached 90% during February through May 2022.
A separate TCEQ enforcement case followed a July 28th, 2022 investigation.
That case involved violations of permitted limits for daily average flow, total suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand.
TCEQ assessed Aqua Texas a $16,875 administrative penalty.
The enforcement order required Aqua to certify compliance with its permit, identify corrective measures implemented at the facility and provide discharge-monitoring reports demonstrating at least three consecutive months of compliance.
TCEQ’s penalty worksheet also shows seven months of self-reported effluent violations were used to increase the penalty calculation.
Aqua entered the agreed order without admitting liability.
TCEQ’s 2024 compliance-history report subsequently classified both Aqua Texas and the Canyon Creek facility as “Satisfactory” and did not classify Aqua as a repeat violator.
AQUA REPORTED AN INFILTRATION-AND-INFLOW PROBLEM
Another problem appears in Hood County’s November 2025 records.
After BRA contacted the county about Canyon Creek on November 24th, an Aqua representative onsite said the system had an infiltration-and-inflow problem, according to the county chronology.
Infiltration and inflow — commonly called I&I — occurs when groundwater or stormwater enters sanitary sewer infrastructure through damaged pipes, faulty manholes, improper connections or similar defects.
That additional water consumes treatment capacity even though it is not sewage generated by customers.
Aqua’s reported I&I problem does not establish the cause of any particular 2026 incident.
APRIL: TCEQ RECORDS AN UNAUTHORIZED DISCHARGE
The April event is documented more clearly.
TCEQ correspondence obtained through Hood County describes an April 27th unauthorized discharge of untreated wastewater through the Canyon Creek outfall to Lake Granbury.
The reported explanation involved recent rainfall and high flows the plant could not handle.
BRA questioned whether rainfall alone accounted for the event.
In correspondence with TCEQ, BRA pointed to relatively little rainfall recorded at one Lake Granbury monitoring location during part of the period surrounding the discharge.
One rain gauge cannot account for every source of stormwater or groundwater entering a sewer system, so that observation does not establish the cause. It does show BRA was questioning the rainfall explanation during the investigation.
BRA had also been examining conditions around the outfall before April 27th.
Agency correspondence says a BRA field crew photographed conditions offshore from the discharge pipe April 17th and collected a water sample reported at 770 MPN E. coli.
HCE has not established that the April 17th result was an effluent-compliance sample or evidence of a separate unauthorized discharge.
APRIL 29: RESIDENTS CALL THE CONSTABLE
Two days after the reported April 27th discharge, residents contacted Precinct 2 Constable John Shirley about conditions in the Canyon Creek cove.
Shirley, who also serves as editor-in-chief of Hood County Express, said he responded in his official capacity as constable on April 29th and personally observed what residents were reporting as sewage contamination in the water.
He said BRA and Hood County Environmental personnel were also at the scene.
Because Shirley is involved both as a public official and in HCE’s reporting, this story relies on the contemporaneous records and photographs in addition to his account.
Residents had sent Shirley photographs from the affected area. He forwarded those images to Commissioner Nannette Samuelson on April 29th.
The photographs show greenish, discolored water and numerous dark floating clumps or solids around residential docks and seawalls.
The images do not establish the chemical or biological composition of the material, and they do not show whether an active discharge was occurring when they were taken.
They do provide a contemporaneous visual record of the conditions residents were reporting while government agencies were responding.
CLEANUP CONTINUED INTO JUNE
Hood County, BRA and TCEQ personnel met at the facility with an Aqua representative May 5th.
Two days later, Aqua reported 1,270 water connections and 588 sewer connections to the county.
Those figures describe different systems. The 1,270 figure should not be treated as the number of connections sending wastewater to the Canyon Creek plant.
Aqua also told county officials that sewer connections were increasing rapidly.
Its May 2024 engineering study provides another measure of that growth.
The study says active sewer connections increased from 148 in 2020 to 478 in 2024 — an increase the engineer calculated at approximately 34% per year over that period.
The same study said flows at the existing plant were nearing its 42,000-gallon-per-day permitted amount.
During the spring response, environmental contractor Magna Flow was brought in for cleanup. County records say a sludge net was to be staged in the cove to remove material that may have settled among rocks on the bottom.
On June 8th, after another site visit involving TCEQ and BRA, Environmental Health recorded that the cleanup appeared complete.
COUNTY RECORDS DESCRIBE NEW LATE-SUMMER EVENTS
Hood County’s chronology resumes on August 26th.
The entry says BRA informed the county that Canyon Creek had “another release” and that a site visit was planned.
On August 31st, the county recorded an “additional discharge” and said photographs were sent to BRA.
BRA correspondence reviewed by HCE also refers to another report of wastewater debris near Canyon Creek and another caller reporting the condition.
TCEQ investigator Bismark Otorino was assigned to the case.
The county chronology says Otorino went to the site September 1st and “confirmed discharge.”
It also records that Magna Flow was called to remove sludge and that the plant operator was instructed to make frequent visits to ensure the facility was operating normally.
On September 2nd, Environmental Health recorded that it had been notified of “yet another discharge into the lake.”
The county then issued a public-health notice advising people to avoid swimming, wading, fishing and boating near Canyon Creek while cleanup and water-quality testing proceeded.
BRA later informed Hood County that a subsequent site visit showed substantial cleanup had occurred.
Those are Hood County’s records.
Aqua rejects the county’s characterization of the late-summer events.
AQUA: NO RECENT UNAUTHORIZED DISCHARGE
HCE sent Aqua 20 written questions Wednesday addressing Canyon Creek’s capacity history, I&I problems, corrective work, the April incident, the August and September events, regulatory notifications and the pending plant expansion.
Aqua was given until 10:00 a.m. Thursday to respond.
At 10:08 a.m., Regional Communications Specialist Jennifer Tuminelli replied that the company could not answer all 20 questions within the requested timeframe because of their number and scope.
Instead, Aqua provided a statement denying that an August or September spill or unauthorized discharge occurred.
Aqua also said neither TCEQ nor BRA has alleged that such a discharge occurred.
That assertion has not yet been independently confirmed by either agency to HCE.
The company did not provide documents with its response supporting that characterization.
AQUA SEEKS SUBSTANTIALLY MORE CAPACITY
Aqua is also pursuing a major expansion of the Canyon Creek facility.
The plant currently has a permitted average flow of 42,000 gallons per day.
The pending permit amendment ultimately seeks authorization for 115,000 gallons per day.
The application also describes an interim 85,000-gallon-per-day phase before the final expansion to 115,000 gallons per day.
Aqua’s 2024 capacity study said 478 sewer connections were active at the time and that plant flows were nearing the existing permitted amount.
The study projected 1,150 sewer connections at full buildout and used 100 gallons per connection per day to calculate a projected average flow of 115,000 gallons per day.
TCEQ received the permit-amendment application in September 2024. The agency’s public listing shows technical review was completed March 20th, 2026, and the application remains pending.
Hood County records indicate Aqua told local officials this summer that it was targeting approximately September 30th, 2027 for the expanded plant to become operational.
TCEQ FILES COULD RESOLVE PART OF THE DISPUTE
TCEQ has not yet completed HCE’s Public Information Act request for its 2026 Canyon Creek complaint, inspection, investigation, sampling and enforcement records.
The agency has said it needs additional time to compile the material and estimates production by September 29th.
HCE has also requested Canyon Creek compliance, capacity and corrective-action records dating to 2021.
Those documents could establish what TCEQ investigators concluded about the disputed late-summer events, what the agency meant by any finding of a “discharge,” whether an unauthorized discharge was formally alleged, and whether additional enforcement is underway.
Until then, the late-summer record contains two competing accounts.
Hood County documents describe new releases and discharges, including a Sept. 1 entry saying a TCEQ investigator confirmed one.
Aqua Texas says no August or September unauthorized discharge occurred.
Hood County Express will continue pressing TCEQ, BRA, Hood County and Aqua Texas for the records and answers needed to resolve the conflicting accounts. The next installment will examine what regulators concluded — and what happened after the warnings, cleanup and repeated complaints.
— Hood County Express
Est’d 1/2026 🚂
