Tatiana Salazar

City officials hope to be more prepared for the next big storm to hit San Marcos. As Tatiana Salazar tells us in this Bobcat Update, the heavy rains earlier this month caused an overflow.

The thunderstorm did more than just get some roads a little wet – it caused more than 400 thousand gallons of waste to overflow into the river. Apparently there was so much rainwater that the underground sewer system near River Road was flooded. For a while that meant thousands of gallons of domestic waste – all that was flushed down toilets and poured down sinks – was going into the river untreated.
Hulme: "I mean, it's gross. No one wants to swim in the bathroom."
Bessner: "I didn't even know about it. So not knowing about it freaks me out."
However, city officials say that because there was such a high volume of rain, the water was still safe to use.
Clack: "it could've had more potential to be harmful if it didn't have that dilution, but it would've happened if it didn't have rainwater in the system."
Standup: "But what residents want to know is, what is being done to prevent THIS from happening again?"
According to Clack, the concrete cap that was pushed over by the rain is being replaced. However, because it's such a large piece of equipment, it has to be specially-made. He projects that the cap should be replaced within the next few weeks. For Bobcat Update, I'm Tatiana Salazar.