By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
Concerns continue to mount regarding a company’s request to process liquid waste in the Rio Hondo area.
Citizens fear that the company, Partners Dewatering International, reportedly plans to pour up to a million gallons of liquid waste per month, or 50,000 gallons per day, into the City of Rio Hondo wastewater treatment plant.
Residents from the Harlingen, San Benito, Rio Hondo and Laguna Madre area believe the local environment will be adversely affected as a result, specifically the Arroyo Colorado river where the waste is expected to discharge. They’ve responded to such plans with opposition and have drafted letters addressed to Rio Hondo city officials and state authorities expressing as much.
Rio Hondo City Manager Ben Medina, however, said he has yet to receive said correspondence.
San Benito officials, meanwhile, are taking action. On Tuesday, the mayor and San Benito City Commission planned to discuss and possibly take action on a resolution opposing the following: “…any plans by Partners Dewatering, doing business as SOS Liquids, to process and discharge commercial waste into the Arroyo Colorado.”
“The way it sounds, I think it does,” San Benito Mayor Joe H. Hernandez said when asked if processing the liquid waste at the Rio Hondo wastewater treatment facility posed a threat to the local environment. “If it is harmful to the environment, then it will also probably hurt property values. But, there may be other information to consider in this matter, so I will keep an open mind.”
On Tuesday, while en route to the 83rd Texas Legislative Session in Austin, Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. said he planned to review the matter and further commented that “now is the perfect time for environmental awareness.”
Citing his role as attorney for the City of Rio Hondo, State Rep. Eddie Lucio III said he could not comment on the matter.
Attempts to gain comment from representatives of Partners Dewatering International were unsuccessful as of presstime.
Read this story in the Jan. 9 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
2 comments
While this may be something the politicos will get behind, the truth is much more sinister, and a VERY bad deal for those living in Rio Hondo and surrounding areas. Short term gain is not worth the threat to the local environment.
State Rep. Eddie Lucio III should step out on this issue and advise the City to do the right thing!
Any waste is bad waste ! Go dump it some where else NOW! If you ask me at his point in time even if we found GOLD in the arroyo colorado it would not be dredged.