water quality and copano bay watershed efforts
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Water Quality and Copano Bay Watershed Efforts. Allen Berthold Texas Water Resources Institute. Copano Bay and I ts Watershed. Purpose for Today: The Clean Water Act. Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
ALLEN BERTHOLDTEXAS WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE
Water Quality and Copano Bay Watershed Efforts
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 drinkingNon-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 WagnerTexas Water Resources [email protected]
Allen BertholdTexas Water Resources [email protected]