So much hurtful rhetoric and rumor-mongering have been aired over the proposed Bull Hide Creek water treatment plant that we didn’t foresee both sides in the fight sitting down and quietly working out problems.

Hallelujah, it’s happened, and to the satisfaction of most. As Trib staff writer J.B. Smith reveals this morning on Page One, the Waco Metropolitan Area Regional Sewerage System, representing the cities of Bellmead, Hewitt, Lacy-Lakeview, Lorena, Robinson, Waco and Woodway, has reached a fair settlement with rural property owners near Lorena over plans to build a wastewater treatment plant on Bull Hide Creek.

The agreement requires the regional sewerage system to add a small wetland at its plant site to better filter and “polish” the effluent water coming from the plant and flowing downstream — a huge concern of those landowners who cherish the area’s picturesque qualities and worry about pollution of water sources, including area wells.

Also, WMARSS agrees to fund annual tests at points along Bull Hide Creek to ensure water quality of the highest standards, as promised all along by Waco and others.

Plus, the agreement calls for the sewerage system to file deed restrictions so property around the plant can’t be used for a landfill — a gnawing fear of at least some property owners. We found this fear something of a red herring, based on rumors rather than substance. But at least this addresses it.

City of Waco officials, who oversaw negotiations on behalf of municipalities with a stake in the wastewater plant, are pleased with the settlement. Among other things, it should save all parties tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. More crucial than that, all parties are talking, listening and working earnestly to resolve their differences.

The Waco City Council and other cities have no reason not to readily approve this settlement. It ensures progress for a fast-growing area of Central Texas, clean water standards sure to meet approval of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and, hopefully, an end to the deep anxiety felt by some of our rural property owners.