Download Water Quality and Copano Bay Watershed Efforts

Water Quality and Copano Bay
Watershed Efforts
ALLEN BERTHOLD
TEXAS WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE
Copano Bay and Its Watershed
Purpose for Today: The Clean Water Act
 Federal Clean Water Act (CWA)
 Main goal is to “restore and maintain the biological, chemical
and physical integrity of the Nation’s waters.”
 Goal of CWA is to provide water quality suitable for
the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish and
wildlife while providing for recreation in and on the
water
 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
administers and implements CWA

Requires individual states to set water quality standards
Bacteria in Texas Waters
 Texas sets water quality standards on the amount of
bacteria that a water body can contain
 2 types of use in Copano Bay


Contact Recreation
Oyster Harvesting
 Bacteria Geometric Mean (GM) standards for E. coli in
freshwaters are:
 Primary Contact Recreation (126 cfu/100 mL)

Involves a significant risk of water ingestion
Wading children
 Swimming
 Whitewater kayaking/canoeing/rafting
 Waterskiing, diving, tubing, surfing

Bacteria in Texas Waters
 Secondary Contact Recreation 1 (630 cfu/100 mL)
 Commonly occur but have limited body contact incidental to
shoreline activities that pose less significant risk of water
ingestion
Fishing
 Motorboating
 Incidental body contact from shore

 Secondary Contact Recreation 2 (1,030 cfu/100 mL)
 Activities that occur less frequently than Secondary Contact
Recreation 1 due to physical characteristics of the waterbody
and limited public access
Bacteria in Texas Waters
 Noncontact Recreation (2060 cfu/100 mL)
 Activities that do not involve a significant risk of water
ingestion such as those with limited body contact incidental to
shoreline activity
Birding
 Hiking/biking
 Where Primary and Secondary Contact Recreation should not
occur due to unsafe conditions such as ship and barge traffic

Tidal and Oyster Water Standards
 Bacteria Geometric Mean (GM) standards for tidal
waters are:

Enterococci (tidal waters) – 35 cfu/100mL
Bacteria standards for Oyster harvesting waters are:

Fecal Coliform (oyster harvesting waters) - 14 cfu/100mL*
* Applies to the median value of observed data
Sources of Bacteria
 Fecal material from warm-blooded animals
 In other words, anything with hair, fur, or feathers
 Bacteria are naturally occurring in the intestinal
tract
How does Bacteria get into Creeks?
 Direct deposition
 Animals directly deposit fecal material into the water

Birds above water, ducks on water, livestock & wildlife drinking
 Non-Point Sources
 Storm water runoff from landscape
 Fecal material runoff from landscape


Pet waste, livestock, wildlife
Failing septic systems
 Point Sources
 Improperly treated waste water treatment discharge
 Illegal dumping
 Storm water from cities
What Happens When Water has Too Much
Bacteria
 CWA requires that all waterbodies exceeding
standards be identified
 Those identified are placed on the Texas Integrated
Report for Clean Water Act Sections 305(b) and
303(d)
 Water quality monitoring has shown elevated levels
of bacteria within various waterbodies in the
watershed
 Copano Bay/Port Bay/ Mission Bay first listed in
1998
Methods to Address Bacteria Impairments
 Recreational Use Attainability Analysis
 Ex. one currently in progress on Aransas Creek
 Developing a Plan
 Total Maximum Daily Load and Implementation Plan
 Watershed Protection Plan
Attempts to Address the Bacteria Impairment
 Seven Public Meetings from November 2005 –
December 2010
 Covered various topics including:





Overview of TMDLs
Bacterial Source Tracking (phases I and II)
Modeling results (and revised results)
Additional monitoring results
Attempts to form a Watershed Advisory Group (WAG)
Notes and presentations available at http://www.tceq.texas.gov/waterquality/tmdl/42-copano.html#info
Today’s Meeting
 Goal – to deliver information to local stakeholders
so that an informed decision on how to best
approach the impairment can be made
 Next presentation will be about:
 An overview of alternatives to addressing water quality
impairments
 An explanation of the TMDL and I-Plan process
 An explanation of the WPP process
Questions?
Kevin Wagner
Texas Water Resources Institute
[email protected]
979-845-2649
Allen Berthold
Texas Water Resources Institute
[email protected]
361-318-8780