Click the accordions below to learn more about our previous work and projects.
Navasota River WPP
In 2014, efforts began to better understand the sources of E. coli in the Navasota River watershed and develop a strategy to reduce their impacts on instream water quality. The Navasota River Watershed Partnership was formed and consists of interested watershed stakeholders supported by agency and university personnel whose goal was to develop a watershed protection plan (WPP). TWRI and Texas A&M University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences supported these efforts with additional water quality monitoring, bacteria source tracking, watershed assessment and plan development facilitation.
The aim of the WPP is to reduce E. coli loading from the variety of sources present in the watershed. Management recommendations focused on identifying practical strategies that are palatable to landowners. Specific management goals include:
- developing 130 conservation plans and/or water quality management plans for livestock operations to reduce coli loading,
- removing at least 15 percent of the feral hog population annually,
- repairing or replacing 150 failing septic systems,
- delivering education and outreach on septic system operation and maintenance,
- reducing the number of hunting camps without septic systems,
- reducing inflow and infiltration issues in centralized wastewater collection systems, and
- reducing coli loads from pet waste across the watershed by providing pet waste stations and educational resources.
TWRI published the Navasota River WPP in 2017 using funding that was provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board through its State Nonpoint Source Grant Program.
Carters and Burton Creek watershed TMDLs
In 2011, a subset of stakeholders in the Bryan/College Station area gathered to develop total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) and an implementation plan (I-Plan) to address E. coli impairments in Carters and Burton Creek and Country Club Branch. Stakeholders identified the need to reduce E. coli loading from on-site sewage facilities (OSSFs), sanitary sewer overflows, agricultural operations, urban development, urban stormwater, and centralized wastewater. These efforts were supported by TWRI and the Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research.
The TMDL and I-Plan for the Carters and Burton Creek watershed was adopted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TMDL) in 2012 and is currently being implemented.
Funding support for developing the TMDLs and I-Plan was provided by TCEQ’s TMDL program. For more information on this project, visit Carters Creek Watershed Water Quality.
Navasota River Watershed TMDLs
Development of TMDLs and a TMDL I-Plan began in 2015 while stakeholders were developing the Navasota River WPP. The TMDL and I-Plan are very similar to the WPP as they address the same water quality issues; however, the main difference is that the TMDLs will effectively address the water quality impairments and result in the removal of those impairments from the state’s list of impaired waters.
E. coli load reduction goals and the management strategies to reduce E. coli loading across the watershed are the same between the TMDL I-Plan and the WPP.
Funding support for developing the TMDLs and I-Plan was provided by TCEQ’s TMDL program.
