Chris Johnson has been fishing Brushy Creek for 30 years. Now that the spherical rock has improved its main sewage system, he hopes the wildlife along the creek will be better.
ROUND ROCK, TX – Chris Johnson fishes weekly at Brushy Creek.
“I’ve been directing excursions for 16 years and owned my fly-fishing shop for 14 years,” Johnson said as he trudged through a small bush at Cedar Park’s Champion Park.
Johnson went to one of his favorite places at Brushy Creek, where he spotted another fly fisher nearby.
“You’ve probably come to the right place. It’s the right morning. It feels great,” Johnson joked with the angler, who introduced his two daughters on Monday. “You look at the history of Brushy Creek. Not all times are that small.”
Earlier this year, Johnson sent Spherical Rock metropolitan leaders a film and photos of the creek’s health. He described the water, looking like chocolate, full of suspended matter, floating downstream at the Brush Creek wastewater treatment plant.
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“You can’t fish, you can’t even go in. Quite simply, I mean, you have sludge, you have slime, you have powerful material exit powers. It was just a mess, an absolute mess,” Johnson recalled.
Spherical Rock solved this problem as quickly as possible by commissioning a brand new growth point at its regional wastewater treatment plant. This growth has added additional capacity to deal with wastewater and deal with leaks within the system that flooded the plant’s aeration and filtration tanks.
In response to the Texas Environmental Quality Charge (TCEQ), the creek’s well-being has grown. A TCEQ consultant “became aware of wildlife in the creek earlier this month,” according to the company. TCEQ was unable to verify whether the aquatic wildlife was so strong and abundant because it was before the town’s admission of a sewer leak in March.
Regardless of initial considerations, Johnson was pleasantly surprised by the wildlife he spotted downstream of the power on Monday when he returned to the world for the first time after an interview with KVUE in June.
“I’m very optimistic that the creek will get better sooner than I expected. Am I nervous? Of course,” Johnson said. “Although I’m optimistic, I’m always scared. It’s the water in my house. I mean, I do – I just love it. It’s not on the mountain, though. Still, we’re still There is work to be done to ensure it remains in pristine condition.”
As part of enhancements to the wastewater treatment plant, Spherical Rock will add a new tertiary filter that shows even the smallest particles. These filters will be fully operational someday in the next two to several years. The remaining WWTP expansion projects will be completed around June 2023.
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