Posted: April 3, 2008
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Tammy Beutnagel, (830) 379-5822 or email
SAN MARCOS - The San Marcos Water Treatment Plant recently earned the state's T.O.P. Award for meeting rigorous criteria in surface water treatment. The plant is owned by the City of San Marcos and operated by the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority.
The Texas Optimization Program (T.O.P.) Award, presented by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) technical review and oversight team, is a voluntary, non-regulatory program created to improve standards of existing surface water treatment plants without major capitol improvements.
After a comprehensive performance evaluation and certain TOP optimization goals being met for the six-month period from May 2007 to October 2007, the TCEQ presents the recognition to the TOP performing plants.
"We are proud to earn this designation because it reflects the considerable investments that San Marcos citizens, our City Council and staff have made in this plant and the outstanding performance of the GBRA team that operates the plant," said Tom Taggart, director of Water and Wastewater Utilities for the City of San Marcos.
"The San Marcos operators realize the importance of optimization in water treatment, and are very proud to be recognized for this accomplishment," said Jerry Sharp, GBRA's San Marcos Water Treatment Plant manager. "We look forward to participating in the TOP program for many years to come. We will continue to operate under these very stringent guidelines to assure that the City of San Marcos and our other customers receive the highest quality water possible," Sharp added.
GBRA is the contract operator for the City of San Marcos' water treatment plant that began operation in January 2000. This facility uses surface water from Canyon Reservoir to reduce the city's pumping from the Edwards Aquifer by an average of 75 percent and existing city wells are used to supplement peak demand periods.
Raw water from Canyon Reservoir is pumped from Lake Dunlap through a 21-mile pipeline, treated to meet state and federal drinking water standards, and delivered to the cities of San Marcos and Kyle for distribution.
The GBRA was established by the Texas Legislature in 1933 as a water conservation and reclamation district. GBRA provides stewardship for the water resources in its 10-county statutory district, which begins near the headwaters of the Guadalupe and Blanco rivers, ends at San Antonio Bay, and includes Kendall, Comal, Hays, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Gonzales, DeWitt, Victoria, Calhoun, and Refugio counties.
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