## Facts

- A Louisiana corporation owned roughly 200 acres containing a man-made lake; shareholder-lessees built improvements on leased lots.
- A nearby Texas municipality operated a wastewater treatment facility about 1.5 miles from the lake; the facility discharged under an NPDES permit.
- By the mid-1980s, the lake became effectively unusable due to severe seasonal moss coverage.
- Plaintiffs alleged nutrient-rich effluent from the facility caused or materially contributed to the moss problem and reduced recreational use and property value.
- Plaintiffs alleged repeated NPDES permit exceedances, particularly for chlorine residual and flow parameters.
- Plaintiffs brought (1) a Clean Water Act citizen suit seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief to compel permit compliance, and (2) Texas tort claims for negligence, nuisance, and trespass seeking damages and equitable relief.
- The city argued the injury was permanent and time-barred, asserted governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act, and contended the facility as a public improvement could not be enjoined.

## Issues

1. Whether undisputed evidence of NPDES permit exceedances entitled plaintiffs to partial summary judgment on Clean Water Act liability for civil penalties.
2. Whether the alleged property injury was permanent (triggering limitations) or temporary/abatable (allowing timely claims for recurring harm).
3. Whether governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act barred plaintiffs’ Texas claims for negligence, nuisance, and trespass.
4. Whether injunctive relief could be ordered against the discharge practices of a municipal wastewater facility characterized as a public improvement.

## Decision

- The court held plaintiffs established Clean Water Act liability for permit violations of the chlorine residual and flow parameters and granted partial summary judgment on liability for civil penalties for those violations.
- The court treated the alleged lake injury as temporary/abatable rather than necessarily permanent, defeating the city’s limitations-based effort to end the case at the summary-judgment stage.
- The court declined to dismiss plaintiffs’ state-law theories on a broad claim of municipal immunity and allowed the nuisance-related theories to proceed.
- The court rejected an absolute rule barring injunctive relief against a municipal wastewater facility and held equitable relief remained available in principle, with scope to be addressed later.

## Legal Principles

- Exceedances of enforceable NPDES permit limits may establish liability in a Clean Water Act citizen suit for civil penalties based on objective noncompliance.
- For Texas limitations purposes, recurring environmental interference may be treated as temporary and abatable when evidence supports feasible mitigation through operational changes.
- Texas municipal immunity doctrines do not categorically foreclose nuisance-based claims or equitable actions aimed at abating ongoing interference from public works.
- A facility’s status as public infrastructure does not create an automatic bar to injunctions; courts may order compliance-focused relief addressing unlawful discharge practices.

## Conclusion

The court imposed Clean Water Act liability for specified NPDES permit violations and preserved plaintiffs’ related state-law claims by treating the alleged lake harm as continuing and abatable, leaving damages, penalty amounts, and the precise form of injunctive relief for later proceedings.


State Line Fishing & Hunting Club, Inc. v. City of Waskom, 754 F. Supp. 1104 (E.D. Tex. 1991)