We begin with an investigation by the city and the TCEQ into some pictures posted on facebook
The pictures capture some activity that took place at a south side gas station.
They appear to show a man discharging what looks like water into the city’s storm water drain.
This happened last night at the Snappy’s at the corner of Lipes and Staples.
The TCEQ tells us they received a complaint last night as well, and are investigating.
Action Ten News spoke with Jeff Turner, supervisor of the city’s Environmental Services Department. He said they did receive a complaint about what you see on the pictures, and they’ve begun an investigation into possible illicit and illegal discharge into the city’s storm water system.
We also contacted the Texas Department of Agriculture about this.
The business owner, Mohammad Motaghi, confirmed it happened, and that he’d already been contacted by the TCEQ.
He also told us he didn’t know about it until one of his clerk’s called and told him.
“We have a lot of ground water from the rain, and that’s what they were trying to do. Get it out. I didn’t know about it, but as soon as we found out, that we were notified, then we put a stop to it.”
Motaghi explained that the man in the picture, who works for Snappy’s, is not the one who usually does this.
So there was a communication breakdown.
“He was supposed to bring like a container, but he didn’t bring the container. That’s what surprised me. I guess he probably tried to get a shortcut. But I put a stop to it as soon as we were notified.”
The Department of Agriculture says this is more of a TCEQ issue.
The city’s Environmental Services Department tells me their investigation could take a few weeks as they check into whether there was a violation of the ordinance concerning discharge into the storm water system.
