
The Houston-Galveston area has 16,000 miles of streams and shoreline providing a network of valuable habitat and ecosystem services for the region, connecting freshwater streams to productive coastal estuaries and connecting us to nature and to each other. Clean water is a foundation for our regional economy, contributing $4 billion annually through ecotourism, oyster harvesting, and commercial fishing.
However, more than 80 percent of stream miles within the region fail to meet state water quality standards or screening criteria for one or more parameters. Projected population growth will continue to strain the health of waterways if proper management practices are not established.

Want to learn more about our water quality? Once every five years, the
Houston-Galveston Area Council completes a comprehensive report, the
Basin Summary Report, which provides an in-depth assessment of water quality issues in 15 counties included in the H-GAC region. CEC strongly encourages you to learn more about the water quality issues–and success stories–associated with our waterways by visiting the website for the newly released 2016 Basin Summary Report:
www.bsr2016.com.
CEC NOTES
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