Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today took legal action after Thunderbird Bay Water Services, Inc. and Charles E. Schram III failed to provide Lake Brownwood residents access to safe drinking water.
In an enforcement action filed with the state district court in Travis County, the state charged Thunderbird Bay Water Services, Inc. and its president Charles E. Schram III with violating a 2009 agreed final judgment and permanent injunction. Under that agreement with the state and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the defendants are required to ensure safe drinking water is available to the water supplier’s customers.
The attorney general’s office took legal action after Thunderbird Bay, Harbor Point and Tamarack Mountain residents suffered water outages over the Memorial Day weekend and the following week.
According to court documents filed by the state, the defendants violated 11 provisions of the court’s 2009 injunction. Among the violations, the state charged the defendants with failing to meet TCEQ’s maximum contaminant level requirements for certain disinfection byproducts (DBPs). DBPs are potentially carcinogenic chemicals that are formed when a disinfectant such as chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic carbon.
The state also charged the defendants with failing to submit signed and sealed engineering plans and specifications to TCEQ for a new public water treatment facility that will supply water to the Thunderbird Bay, Harbor Point, Tamarack Mountain, Oak Point and Woodbridge Estates subdivisions. The defendants were also charged with failing to submit quarterly operational reports and written certifications of compliance with each injunctive provision to TCEQ.
Today’s motion for contempt asks the Travis County District Court to hold Thunderbird Bay Water Services, Inc. and Charles E. Schram III in contempt of court for failing to comply with the 2009 judgment. The enforcement action seeks a fine, jail confinement or both against Schram and Thunderbird Bay Water Services, Inc.