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Residents of the Mystic Shores subdivision near Canyon Lake recently hosted a community meeting to outline concerns about a wastewater permit renewal for Lennar Homes' Juniper Ranch subdivision. Residents and environmental groups are seeking to stop a wastewater treatment plant serving the subdivision, formerly known as Canyon Ranch, from beginning operations, citing concerns about potential impacts on the Trinity Aquifer, Canyon Lake and the Guadalupe River.
The event brought together technical experts, elected officials and regional stakeholders to review those concerns.
Carol Little is with the Mystic Shores Property Owners Association.
“Certainly we believe in private property rights. There’s no question about that. Our problem, though, is the—what they call effluent—is going to be routed through our subdivision,” she told TPR.
Little says the discharge would flow through a dry creek system that crosses 28 privately owned lots in the Mystic Shores subdivision.
“The effluent is going through the middle of two lots and along the backside of several more. There’s a total of 28 lots involved, and then it’s going down Devil’s Hollow,” she said.
Residents voiced their concerns about stormwater impacts, sediment movement and the vulnerability of karst features that help recharge the Trinity Aquifer.
During the community meeting, a geologist demonstrated how the proposed discharge would interact with the region’s highly porous karst terrain.
A local cultural resources researcher also presented findings from Devil's Hollow, where artifacts dating back about 8,000 years have been documented. The researcher said ongoing research suggests the possibility of cultural materials as old as 20,000 years, underscoring the significance of the area and the potential for irreversible damage if effluent enters the dry creek system.
Utilities Inc. of Texas, a subsidiary of Nexus Water Group, plans to discharge about 300,000 gallons per day of treated wastewater into a dry creek system that crosses private land before entering Devil's Hollow and Canyon Lake.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved a permit for the wastewater treatment plant in 2021, but that permit has expired. The company has applied to renew the permit. In the meantime, TCEQ has received more than 800 comments on the proposal.
Lennar Homes and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Little says opposition groups and individual landowners plan to challenge the permit.
“TCEQ has 60 days, or probably more based on the volume, to respond to the comments. Once a response is issued, then we have 30 days to evaluate their response and determine if we want to request a contested case hearing.”
According to the Juniper Ranch website, five homes have been sold, and 15 are move-in ready. Lennar plans to build approximately 1,500 homes on 400 acres along FM 306.
The group is calling for more oversight and stronger protections for Canyon Lake and the area’s watershed, including stricter wastewater treatment standards, alternatives to discharge, greater transparency in the permit review process and the creation of a Middle Trinity Recharge Zone that would restrict certain development activities.
