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TCEQ proposes penalty for Hollywood Road plant violations; Amarillo outlines repairs, timeline and a penalty-offset project
Summary
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a proposed agreed order to address multiple 2022–2023 violations at the Hollywood Road Wastewater Treatment Plant, proposing a $324,335 administrative penalty; city staff described remediation steps, equipment replacements and a supplemental environmental project application to offset the penalty.
City utilities staff gave the council a technical briefing on a proposed Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) agreed order addressing a series of violations at the Hollywood Road Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2022 and following the 2023 flood.
Staff summarized two distinct problem periods. In April–June 2022 the plant experienced unauthorized discharges of wastewater and sludge into receiving waters and exceeded effluent limits while crews worked to clear clogged filter media and restore operations; TCEQ resolved those incidents after site cleanup. After the September 2023 flood, TCEQ’s compliance investigation found roughly a dozen alleged violations across treatment units and identified systemic failures: primary clarifiers, aeration basins, sludge digesters and air-supply diffusers were not operating as designed.
Utilities staff described the technical causes (solids overload due to failures in wasting and clogged filters, damaged aeration-basin piping and degraded clarifier rakes), the phased repairs already completed (replacement of dissolved-air flotation with more effective rotary drum thickeners, repair of multiple clarifiers, sludge disposal and digestor repairs) and timelines for outstanding work. Staff said the TCEQ enforcement division issued a proposed agreed order on March 30, 2026 and proposed an administrative penalty of $324,335; the city applied for a supplemental environmental project that would allow retention of penalty dollars to fund in‑house infrastructure replacements and tentatively received approval to offset 100% of the penalty amount.
Staff listed remaining ordering provisions required by TCEQ once the final order is signed: removal of unnecessary solids and proper disposal within 60 days of the finalized order; repair of aeration-basin diffusers, air supply and concrete in the north treatment train within 180 days; repairs to primary clarifier #1 and multiple secondary clarifiers on staggered schedules with official sign-offs by the top elected officer. Staff emphasized that even with repairs the existing plant will still require capacity upgrades as the city grows and that the Hollywood Road plant must be kept operational while repairs proceed.
On costs and scale, staff presented examples of replacement/repair line items: a single clarifier rake-replacement activity consumed 44 hours of city labor and 27 contract hours and cost roughly $5,600 for one clarifier component, while replacement of a major gate on the back side of the north train could cost about $180,000; major screw pumps installed to relieve a headworks bottleneck were rated for 15 MGD versus older pumps at about 7 MGD each, improving hydraulic capacity.
What’s next: TCEQ is expected to issue a revised agreed order with ordering provisions following its commissioners’ meeting (tentatively July, possibly August); the city is seeking to complete repairs ahead of ordering deadlines and will return to council with progress updates and any related funding requests.
