A L L E N B E R T H O L D
T E X A S W A T E R R E S O U R C E S I N S T I T U T E

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Federal Clean Water Act (CWA)
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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
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Requires individual states to set water quality standards

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Texas sets water quality standards on the amount of bacteria that a water body can contain
2 types of use in Copano Bay
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Contact Recreation
Oyster Harvesting
Bacteria Geometric Mean (GM) standards for E. coli in freshwaters are:
Primary Contact Recreation (126 cfu/100 mL)
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Involves a significant risk of water ingestion
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Wading children
Swimming
Whitewater kayaking/canoeing/rafting
Waterskiing, diving, tubing, surfing

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Secondary Contact Recreation 1 (630 cfu/100 mL)
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Commonly occur but have limited body contact incidental to shoreline activities that pose less significant risk of water ingestion
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Fishing
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Motorboating
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Incidental body contact from shore
Secondary Contact Recreation 2 (1,030 cfu/100 mL)
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Activities that occur less frequently than Secondary Contact
Recreation 1 due to physical characteristics of the waterbody and limited public access

 Noncontact Recreation (2060 cfu/100 mL)
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Activities that do not involve a significant risk of water ingestion such as those with limited body contact incidental to shoreline activity
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Birding
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Hiking/biking
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Where Primary and Secondary Contact Recreation should not occur due to unsafe conditions such as ship and barge traffic

 Bacteria Geometric Mean (GM) standards for tidal waters are:
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Enterococci (tidal waters) – 35 cfu/100mL
Bacteria standards for Oyster harvesting waters are:
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Fecal Coliform (oyster harvesting waters) - 14 cfu/100mL *
* Applies to the median value of observed data

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Fecal material from warm-blooded animals
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In other words, anything with hair, fur, or feathers
Bacteria are naturally occurring in the intestinal tract

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Direct deposition
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Animals directly deposit fecal material into the water
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Birds above water, ducks on water, livestock & wildlife drinking
Non-Point Sources
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Storm water runoff from landscape
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Fecal material runoff from landscape
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Pet waste, livestock, wildlife
Failing septic systems
Point Sources
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Improperly treated waste water treatment discharge
Illegal dumping
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Storm water from cities

What Happens When Water has Too Much
Bacteria
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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

 Recreational Use Attainability Analysis
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Ex. one currently in progress on Aransas Creek
 Developing a Plan
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Total Maximum Daily Load and Implementation Plan
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Watershed Protection Plan

Attempts to Address the Bacteria Impairment
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Seven Public Meetings from November 2005 –
December 2010
Covered various topics including:
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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

 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:
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An overview of alternatives to addressing water quality impairments
An explanation of the TMDL and I-Plan process
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An explanation of the WPP process

Kevin Wagner
Texas Water Resources Institute klwagner@ag.tamu.edu
979-845-2649
Allen Berthold
Texas Water Resources Institute taberthold@ag.tamu.edu
361-318-8780