ROUND ROCK — As the owner of a fly-fishing shop in Round Rock, Chris Johnson often sends people to Brushy Creek to try to hook more than 20 catchable species of fish, including Guadalupe bass. "People drive three to four hours to come fish that creek," he said.

But when Johnson visited the creek Tuesday, he said, all he saw was dead fish. "There were several hundred to 1,000 dead minnow species at one crossing," he said.



Round Rock officials notified the public Tuesday afternoon that the city-owned Brushy Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant had spilled more than 100,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into the creek Sunday night due to a power failure and killed about 2,000 fish.

"My first thought was, ‘We can do better,’” Johnson said about the decimated fish. "I live in a city, and wastewater accidents happen. I want a situation like this to inspire people to do better." Johnson, who owns Living Waters Fly Fishing, said he thinks the spill only affected part of the 69-mile creek. "Most of the places we guide on and fish regularly are unaffected by this," he said.

Texas Parks and Wildlife officials have not yet determined how many fish died or how much of the creek was affected. Dead fish were floating or found on creek banks from the Dell Diamond area in Round Rock to Hutto, said Travis Tidwell, a biologist for the state agency. "I guess I was surprised by the variety of fish that were killed," he said. They included catfish and carp more than 2 feet long, he said.

The public water supply was not affected by the spill, but people using private wells for drinking water within half a mile of the spill site should use only water that has been distilled or boiled at a rolling boil for at least one minute for all personal uses, including cooking, bathing and tooth brushing, the city said.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is investigating the spill, but a representative declined to comment Wednesday on the type of penalties that might be imposed. The Parks and Wildlife Department might require the city to do a restoration project to improve the habitat that costs as much as the fish that were lost, Tidwell said.

A thunderstorm knocked out the power to the wastewater plant at 3939 East Palm Valley Blvd. on Sunday night and then a backup battery pack also failed, said Michael Thane, the director of utilities for Round Rock. The outage started around 8:10 p.m. Sunday and lasted about an hour and a half, the city said.

Officials did not realize that sewage had spilled out of a nearby manhole and into the creek until a fisherman notified the TCEQ on Monday, Thane said. The city was required to notify the public within 24 hours of learning of the spill, according to state regulations.

The manhole was outside of a fence near the plant's southeast corner, south of U.S. 79 and west of Red Bud Lane (County Road 122.)

The city of Round Rock took over the plant's operations in October from the Brazos River Authority, Thane said. The plant has had several unauthorized discharges into the creek, including one in 2014, three in 2015, one in 2016 and one in 2018, according to TCEQ records.

City utility crews have cleaned up all the dead fish, Thane said Wednesday. The backup battery at the plant has been repaired, and workers are now posted at the plant 24 hours a day, he said. Before the spill, Thane said, someone was on call at the plant part of the time. He said the city is expanding the plant next year and will be replacing equipment.

Kristen McMillan, an Austinite who visits Brushy Creek regularly to kayak and fish, said she was devastated Tuesday when she saw all the dead fish in the creek in Hutto. But she said she hasn't given up on it. "I'll still keep going back and make sure it's getting better," McMillan said.