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Senate Bill 1289 has been introduced in the 88th Texas Legislative Session addressing the onsite treatment and reuse of non-potable water.

The intent of the bill is to remove certain regulatory barriers to this activity.

Onsite water use is typically defined as the process of collecting, treating, and reusing alternative water sources within a building or across multiple buildings for non-potable applications such as irrigation, cooling towers, and industrial processes. Alternative water sources might include gray water, black water, rainwater, stormwater, and foundation drainage.

Note that such onsite water use can:

• Provide water security for businesses
• Improve water access for underserved communities
• Serve as a central component of client-resilient infrastructure
• Provide additional water supply and offset demands on potable water supplies, especially during droughts
• Reduce pollution by diverting surface runoff and wastewater that could otherwise contribute to flooding, sewer overflows, and surface water contamination

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) currently requires that an owner of a reclaimed water treatment system that treats for reuse of domestic water have a wastewater discharge permit as an alternative means of disposal.

SB 1289 would revise TCEQ rules to eliminate the requirement that the owner of the reclaimed water treatment have a wastewater discharge permit as an alternative means of disposal if this alternative means of disposal:

• is to an existing collection system;
• the owner has consent from the existing collection system owner; and
• if different, the wastewater treatment plant owner to discharge in the collection system and ultimately the wastewater plant.

A copy of SB 1289 can be downloaded here.