The Gonzales City Council on Nov. 19 unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 2025-153, revising Chapter 10.16 of the municipal code to align local sewer‑use rules with state and regional requirements and to establish a source‑control and pretreatment permit program.

City staff explained the ordinance gives the city clearer enforcement authority over significant users and required sampling. "Any facility that consumes more than 25,000 gallons of water a day will be considered a significant user," a staff member told the council, noting that the new threshold is based on measurable water consumption rather than harder‑to‑gauge sewer discharge estimates.

Council and staff then reviewed an updated Sewer Capital Improvement Program (CIP) presented by Megan Panofsky of M and S Engineers. The CIP identifies three immediate, critical projects: a 21‑inch trunk main rehabilitation (budgeted at $750,000), 5th Street manhole rehabilitation (contract awarded for $125,000), and wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation (budgeted at $1,100,000). Panofsky said the work includes effluent management, trucking, a dechlorination system, bioaugmentation, and basin rehabilitation.

Staff explained the city plans to bring some 2026–27 funds forward into fiscal year 2025–26 to pay for the urgent work, which would temporarily reduce the sewer enterprise fund balance to about $300,000 from a stated $750,000 reserve level but should recover with expected rate revenues by 2026. Staff emphasized that several projects slated for later years will be delayed to free funds for immediate rehabilitation work.

Council discussed operational realities: staff reported basins filling after recent storms, percolation issues caused by suspended solids and fines, and the city’s recent need to truck effluent to an off‑site disposal location. "We are still struggling at the plant," Panofsky said, describing day‑to‑day levy maintenance, basin management and short‑term trucking as ongoing operations. Staff said they are soliciting quotes for fines removal in basins A and C and expect bioaugmentation to arrive soon to improve treatment performance.

Council voted to approve the updated CIP and directed staff to return with contract approvals and necessary budget amendments to appropriate funds in the current fiscal year. Staff said they will also continue pursuing a grant‑funded preliminary design report for a long‑term municipal wastewater treatment plant plan due in spring.

Next steps include drafting necessary budget amendments to bring forward the funds, soliciting and awarding vendor contracts for the identified projects, and continued monitoring of basin percolation and treatment effectiveness. The council did not set new sewer rates at the meeting.