City Confirms Loss of ‘Inert Plastic Media’ into Local Waterway After Recent Heavy Rainfall
The City of Lubbock’s Southeast Water Reclamation Plant, located at 37th Street and Guava Avenue, recently experienced a loss of inert small plastic media into the North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River. This plastic media is related to the treatment of wastewater.
As part of a maintenance operation at the Southeast Water Reclamation Plant, this plastic media was being held in a temporary location outside of the wastewater treatment process when Lubbock received heavy rains. Due to heavy rainfall, a large portion of the plastic media washed into the North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River upstream of Buffalo Springs Lake. Residents downstream should expect no effects from this plastic media, since they were dry prior to the rainfall event and are inert. The loss of this plastic media did not occur from a sewerage spill or release.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is aware of the loss of media and performed an onsite inspection of the Southeast Water Reclamation Plant on June 10, 2024. TCEQ classified this event as an “unauthorized discharge” due to the loss of the inert plastic media.
City staff and contractors are working diligently to recover the lost plastic media along the riverbanks and shoreline over the next several days as part of the required clean up.
