LOVE THAT DIRTY WATER?
By Ella Tyler
Abraham Lincoln said, “God must have loved poor people, he made so many of them.” Take a look at the TCEQ’s newest Water Quality Inventory and 303(d) List, and you’ll conclude that we must love dirty water, we’ve made so much of it.
Until I got several announcements from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Houston Galveston Area Council about meetings to receive comments on draft Total Maximum Daily Loads, I hadn’t really thought about whether the water in our creeks and bayous is safe for swimming or wading.
Then I found out that the innocuous sounding term “Total Maximum Daily Loads”, usually abbreviated TMDL, is the amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive and still support its beneficial uses – such as swimming, wading, fishing – and that TMDLs are not prepared unless a body of water is impaired.
The TCEQ explains, “The goal of a TMDL is to restore the full use of a water body that has limited quality in relation to one or more of its uses. The TMDL defines an environmental target and, based on that target, the state develops an implementation plan to mitigate anthropogenic (human-caused) sources of pollution within the watershed and restore full use of the water body.”
One way that all of us can help keep our water clean is to remember that storm drains flow directly to a waterway. Even though we sometimes call them storm sewers, they do not go to a treatment facility. Anything that is thrown into a storm drain or that is left on the street and is picked up by storm water contributes to water pollution. Pollutants include car oil, pesticides, fertilizers, animal droppings, trash, food wastes, automotive by-products and other toxic substances. Industrial and commercial activities with uncovered outdoor storage or process areas, loading docks and equipment maintenance and washing areas may also contribute pollutants to urban runoff. To find out how get storm drain markers that say “No Dumping, Flows to Galveston Bay” call (713) 290-3000 or visit www.CleanWaterways.org.
If you want to know more about the issues and plans for fixing the problems in your neighborhood waterway, attend one of the following meetings:
LAKE HOUSTON
TCEQ will present progress on and data collected for the TMDL for Bacteria in the Lake Houston Watershed, which includes Cypress Creek, Spring Creek, Lake Houston, the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto River, Peach Creek, Caney Creek, and their tributaries at five meetings:
- Monday, June 2, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at Kingwood College (SFA 125/126), 20000 Kingwood Dr., Kingwood;
- Tuesday, June 3, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at Cleveland Civic Center, 210 Peach St., Cleveland;
- Wednesday, June 4 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at Mercer Arboretum, 22306 Aldine-Westfield Road, Humble;
- Thursday, June 5 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at South Regional Library, 2101 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands; and
- Thursday, June 12 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at Conroe Tower, Sixth Floor, 300 West Davis St., Conroe.
BUFFALO BAYOU & WHITE OAK BAYOU
Monday, June 9, from 4 – 6 pm at Houston-Galveston Area Council, Conference Room A, 3555 Timmons Lane, Houston.
CLEAR CREEK AND ITS TRIBUTARIES located in Brazoria, Harris, Galveston and Fort Bend counties. See the TMDL online.
Wednesday, June 11, 5– 7 pm at Johnnie Arolfo Civic Center, 400 West Walker, League City.For information about any of the above-listed hearings, contact Rachel Powers, rachel.powers@h-gac.com or (713) 993-4559, or HGAC’s website.
UPPER TEXAS COAST – The TMDL addresses bacteria in the Upper Texas Coast in the counties of Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston and Harris counties.
- Monday, June 9, 7 pm at Clear Lake Park Meeting Room, 5001 NASA Road 1 in Clear Lake; and
- Wednesday, June 11 at 2 pm at White Memorial Park, Whites Park Exhibit Hall, 225 Whites Memorial Drive in Hankamer.
For details, go online.
DICKINSON BAYOU
Thursday, June 12, 7–9 pm at Dickinson Historic Railroad Center, 218 FM 517 West, Dickinson. For details go online.
It is possible to clean up waterways. The Charles River in Boston, which inspired the 1966 hit “Dirty Water” by the Standells (now the victory anthem for the Boston Red Sox) was given a B++ by the EPA in 2007. This grade means that that the river is always safe for boating and sometimes safe for swimming.If you’re interested in Gulf of Mexico issues, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is meeting from June 2 – 6 at the Hilton Hobby, 8181 Airport Drive. For an agenda, see www.gulfcouncil.org. On Tuesday evening, from 5:30 to 6:30, the Council and NOAA Fisheries will hold an informal question and answer session on Gulf reef fish. There will be a public comment session Thursday morning from 9:45 to noon.