NEW: City of Austin says Samsung wastewater spill exceeded 6M gallons

AUSTIN (KXAN) — About 2.2 million gallons of stormwater mixed with wastewater from Samsung Austin Semiconductor's facility spilled into a waterway north of the building, according to a City of Austin memo released on Thursday.

That's in addition to the roughly 763,000 gallons of wastewater spilled into a tributary south of the facility stemming from the same leak, which Samsung said they discovered on Jan. 14.

According to the memo, city staff said Samsung confirmed more details to them on Tuesday about the diluted acidic (low pH) industrial process wastewater.

"Over a four-day period between January 31 and February 3, 2022, the Samsung site received a total of approximately seven inches of rain from two separate rain events. An estimated 13 million gallons of
stormwater filled the wet pond where industrial wastewater was contained, undergoing
treatment, and being pumped away for proper disposal," the memorandum read.

That stormwater caused the pond to overflow to another designated pond for treatment.

On Jan. 31, the city said about 2.2 million gallons of "stormwater mixed with partially
treated wastewater" spilled out of the second containment pond and into an unnamed tributary north of Samsung's facility.

"According to values reported by Samsung, this discharge was within regulatory limits
set by applicable water quality rules," the memo stated.

The city said Samsung later revealed that another discharge happened on Feb. 3, this time pushing out about 5.9 million gallons of wastewater that contained "a light exceedance of sulfates above regulatory limits set in City of Austin Code, but below State of Texas surface water quality limits within the downstream segment."

According to the memo, Samsung told the city that they needed to release the water "to avoid catastrophic impacts to the structural integrity of the stormwater pond berm."

In a statement sent Jan. 27, Samsung said it is "committed to environmental stewardship and recognizes our role in preserving the natural beauty of Central Texas."

Here is the sequence of events, according to Austin Watershed Protection Department :

• Jan. 14, 2022 – Samsung becomes aware of wastewater discharge into an unnamed tributary of Harris Branch Creek, to the east of the Samsung facility, and notifies TCEQ.
• Jan. 18, 2022 – TCEQ notifies the City of Austin. City of Austin begins processes to evaluate the impact to tributary.
• Jan. 27, 2022 – City of Austin notifies Mayor and Council.
• Jan. 31, 2022 – Discharge flows into a secondary wet pond on Samsung property due to rain.
• Feb. 3, 2022 – Discharge flows into north tributary on Feb. 3., and Samsung notifies City of Austin of events from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3.
• Feb. 10, 2022 – City of Austin notifies Mayor and Council of the Jan. 31 and Feb. 3 discharges.

The city said the two most recent spills entered the main branch of Harris Branch Creek, whereas the first spill to the south did not enter the main branch.

"Outside of rain events, under normal conditions, the tributary typically holds intermittent pools and does not flow," the memo read.

The memo said the Austin Watershed Protection Department collected data from the north tributary this week and did not find any environmental impacts.

They said public access to the area is limited, with no parks or residential areas nearby, and no indications of homeless encampments.

The tributary does, however, pass active construction for multi-family residential and commercial development, said the city.

"Since February 3, 2022, the combination of stormwater and wastewater has been contained again
and is being pumped to the sanitary sewer for proper disposal, with approval from Austin Water,
at a rate up to 1,000 gallons per minute. Samsung anticipates that all the water will be transferred
by February 11, 2022," the memo read.

Samsung said it has returned the "returned the tributary back to normal water conditions and in the process removed thousands of pounds of accumulated litter from years of illegal dumping."

TCEQ has overseen the tributary restoration. At Samsung's request, Austin's Watershed Protection Department is making recommendations for improving the tributary and promoting "ecological function," according to Watershed Protection.

TCEQ requires certain permits for plants like Samsung’s Austin semiconductor facility, including a permit for air emissions and a stormwater permit. The agency tracks complaints, emergency responses and investigations specific to each permit.

Records show the Austin plant's stormwater permit has been active since 2001. In the past 10 years, there have been two emergency responses (1/14/2022 and 5/27/2021), both are closed.

Samsung had another spill on May 27, 2021, caused by an electrical failure and loss of power to water process pumps. According to TCEQ, a discharge of wastewater was contained in a stormwater pond, but heavy rains caused roughly 65,000 gallons of mixed stormwater and wastewater to be released into a Harris Branch tributary. No fines were issued.

TCEQ enforcement history

TCEQ said its investigation into the latest discharges is ongoing. If violations are found, TCEQ could take enforcement action, including fines.

In the past five years, Samsung had only one enforcement action resulting from an air quality violation at its Travis County facility. TCEQ levied a $5,437 fine but deferred $1,087 and allowed Samsung to put $2,175 toward an environmental project to clean up illegally disposed tires, according to TCEQ records.

KXAN checked TCEQ’s enforcement database and found no enforcement actions against other semiconductor manufacturing plants operated by Texas Instruments, NXP or Infineon in the past five years.

In fiscal year 2021, TCEQ issued a total of 1,006 administrative orders – its lowest number in the past six years – and levied over $7.5 million in penalties.