How to Find Wastewater Permit Information on TCEQ's Website

We don’t say this often, but we want to congratulate the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for making a big improvement to its website — the agency is now posting most draft wastewater permits online. That’s why we thought this would be a good time to provide a guide on how to find wastewater permit information on TCEQ’s website.

If you’ve ever had to find a copy of a draft permit in the past, you know what a hassle that’s been. TCEQ’s only requirement was that a paper copy of the draft permit had to be placed in a public building near the proposed wastewater facility. This meant that local residents and other interested parties had to go to that building (usually a city hall or public library) and make a xerox or scan of the draft permit — which, with attachments, can often be more than 100 pages long. This seemed especially unfair since we knew that the agency provided PDF versions of draft permits to  applicants.

STS was one of many groups that complained about this problem to the Texas Legislature’s Sunset Commission when it reviewed TCEQ’s operations two years ago. Fortunately, the Sunset Commission agreed with us, and when the Legislature passed a bill reauthorizing TCEQ’s operations, it required that all documents related to a wastewater permit application had to be made available to the public on TCEQ’s website. This summer, the agency went a step further and created an easily searchable section in its website that includes the materials for all pending wastewater permits in the state.

If you want to know more, then check out our TCEQ permit guide.

Questions? Contact us at [email protected]