Trinity River Authority, TX

The environment as a whole deserves protecting and nurturing. The Trinity River Authority engages in several efforts to help be a good steward of our one and only environment.

BIOSOLIDS
Biosolids are created through the transformation of liquid and solid matter in wastewater. The transformation of what goes down the shower and sink drains, the disposal and toilets in private homes, businesses and restaurants involves physical, chemical and biological processes. The transformation removes conventional pollutants. TRA produces a nutrient-rich biosolids product that exceeds Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regulations, production and testing and monitoring standards. The biosolids produced by TRA’s Central Regional Wastewater System plant are land applied with specially designed spreading equipment [no dumping occurs] for local farmers as fertilizer.

REUSE
TRA, in conjunction with the Dallas County Utility Reclamation District, created the first large scale reuse project in Texas. DCURD funded the development of a pipeline and pumping facility that extends from the CRWS plant in Dallas upstream along the Elm Fork of the Trinity River to Las Colinas in Irving.

Water delivered to Las Colinas is used to maintain lake elevations within the development and for irrigation of four golf courses and other common areas within the development. DCURD purchases the water from TRA. Revenue produced from these sales are used to reduce costs for all customers served by the CRWS facility.

THERMAL HYDROLYSIS
TRA is moving toward a new way of treating biosolids. Using a phased development process, the solid waste that comes from our homes and businesses will be pasturized and sterilized using thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion.

This new process will produce a Class A biosolids product, minimizing the amount of biosolids produced and transported, ensuring that throughout the implementation of the new process, there is sufficient overlap for a seamless transition as well as managing and minimizing any odors. The plan for this new process also considers other beneficial reuses for the biosolids, such as composting for commercial buildings.

What is thermal hydrolysis?
It is a process that heats and pressurizes solids. The pressure cooking breaks down the solids and enhances the process of anaerobic digestion.

What is anaerobic digestion?
Anaerobic digestion is a collection of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to produce fuels. The process produces a biogas, consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and traces of other contaminant gases. Anaerobic digesters are populated with a particular group of microscopic microorganisms that look like mud; it is composed of millions of microorganisms in water.

WATERSHED PROTECTION – MANAGEMENT
The Trinity River Authority is a partner in the Village Creek-Lake Arlington Watershed Protection Partnership. A watershed is the land area that drains water to a common point such as a stream, river, lake, wetland, or ocean. Watersheds can be very small, such as part of a park that drains to the creek in your neighborhood. Many of these small watersheds combine to form much larger watersheds, such as major river basins that drain large portions of states, and in some cases, cover large portions of countries or continents. For example, several sub-watersheds make up the Village Creek watershed, which is itself part of the Trinity River basin.

No matter where you are on the Earth, you’re in a watershed. As runoff water from storms flows across the landscape, it picks up and carries sediment and various other substances as it flows to a waterway. This means that everything we do on the land affects both water quality and quantity, and the cumulative effects can impact the function and health of the 
whole watershed.

ZEBRA MUSSELS
Since zebra mussels were first found in Texas in 2009, several Texas lakes and river basins are now fully infested, meaning that zebra mussels have an established, reproducing population. The rapidly reproducing zebra mussels can have serious economic, environmental and recreational impacts on Texas reservoirs.

In August 2011, the Trinity River Authority partnered with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to be part of the investigation into the potential impacts of zebra mussels. Since that time, TRA has continued to fund the campaign, now managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, to slow the spread of zebra mussels in the Trinity basin.