Hutto adopts updated industrial‑waste ordinance and enforcement plan; staff to monitor data centers

The Hutto City Council voted to repeal and replace its industrial‑waste ordinance (O‑2026‑022) and approved an industrial‑waste enforcement response guide (R‑2026‑125) to standardize investigations and penalties. The replacement ordinance was presented by David Thomason, public works utility manager, who said the rewrite aligns local rules with the Clean Water Act and federal pretreatment regulations (40 CFR 403) and TPDES permit conditions.

Thomason and Troy Zorneman of the Brazos River Authority explained the ordinance's preventive and enforcement elements: regulated users will need permits and, where necessary, pretreatment systems; staff can perform spot checks, random inspections and 24‑hour composite sampling, and the city may require the responsible party to pay sampling costs if a violation is found. "We're putting the onus on the industry," Zorneman said, noting permit conditions can require pretreatment equipment so pollutants are removed before reaching the city's POTW.

Council members asked how the city would prevent illicit discharges and what steps would be taken if a data center or other large user bypassed controls. Staff said the ordinance grants entry authority for inspections, enables administrative hearings for disputed enforcement actions, and that emergency‑response monitoring procedures would be applied (the council considered the response plan immediately after the ordinance). The council approved both the ordinance and the enforcement plan by unanimous vote.

Councilors said the measures will give the city stronger tools to investigate suspected discharges and protect receiving streams while staff and legal coordinate procedural details and prosecution steps with the municipal court and county prosecutors.