Environment News Service: The Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the construction association representing commercial contractors in North and East Texas today signed a voluntary stormwater control agreement with the state and federal governments. The agreement is intended to keep runoff from construction sites out of Texas waterways.TEXO, the Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter of the Associated General Contractors and the Associated Builders and Contractors, agreed to participate in a pilot program to minimize or eliminate the discharge of polluted stormwater from construction sites.
Under state and federal law administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, TCEQ, it is a violation to discharge stormwater into waters of the United States or the State of Texas without a permit. TEXO and its members are launching a voluntary pilot test of a program that encourages compliance with the Texas Water Code and the federal Clean Water Act.
"The pledge of local business and industry to comply with the law is essential to protecting water quality,” said EPA Region 6 Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division Director John Blevins. "This program promises to be successful in minimizing runoff from construction sites both large and small into our lakes, streams and rivers," Blevins said today.
…The agreement is similar to other programs in Texas that have reduced and still are reducing discharges of pollutant-bearing sediment, which cuts the costs of waterway maintenance and protects aquatic life in streams and rivers….
Dallas in 1872. Bird's eye view of Dallas in 1872. Lithograph (hand-colored), Dallas Historical Society.
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