U.S. Water News Online
SAN ANTONIO -- The board that oversees the region's water system in the San Antonio area has voted to cut off water it was supplying to help fight an enormous mulch fire, saying it fears contaminating a major aquifer.
The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) trustees voted unanimously to immediately end the supply of water being directly sprayed on the pile in Helotes and to deny an application for construction of a water main by a state-hired contractor to fight the fire.
Oil Mop LLC was hired by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to help fight a fire that has been consuming a 70-foot-high pile of tree stumps and branches since Christmas in a small hill town northwest of San Antonio.
Government officials have struggled with how to battle the blaze, which has regularly layered the town in smoke, because it sits on the edge of the Edwards Aquifer that supplies water to San Antonio and the region.
SAWS had initially been willing to supply water to help fight the fire, but concern about possible aquifer contamination grew after two homeowners near the fire reported smoky-smelling cloudy water pouring from their taps. They both get water from private wells but draw from the same groundwater supply as the public wells several miles away.
"This board's primary responsibility is protecting the water supply,"said San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger, one of seven members of the SAWS Board.
Oil Mop had planned to build clay-lined trenches and a pit to douse smoldering branches and catch ashy water. The water was then to be cleaned and treated before being discharged. The plan was expected to cost the state $3 million.
State officials said they were confident the plan would put out the fire as soon as possible without endangering the aquifer that supplies roughly 1.7 million people, but SAWS board members were unconvinced.
They ordered their staff to keep looking for other ways to fight the fire, without pouring water directly on it.
Terry Clawson, a spokesman for TCEQ, said Oil Mop would pull its firefighters off the blaze until another plan could be found.
"It would be extremely dangerous for the firefighters to proceed without an adequate water supply,"he said.
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