Surface Water Quality Standards to Protect Contact Recreation

By David Cowan, LCRA Clean Rivers Program coordinator

Prior to the 1972 Clean Water Act and the development of surface water quality standards, it was not uncommon to find sewage pipes discharging poorly treated – or untreated – effluent into water bodies used for recreation. Today, surface water quality standards help limit the amount of pollutants in the nation's waterways and provide a science-based foundation to protect designated uses, such as contact recreation.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and its predecessor agencies worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards over the past four decades. The water quality standards have helped regulate permitted discharges and improve water quality in the state, but they are neither perfect, nor set in stone. The standards are continually being updated as new information and technology becomes available, new pollutant concerns arise and new expectations are set.

Youth and LCRA staff explore Gilleland Creek in Pflugerville.

Contact Recreation
One recent update changed how the state protects water recreation activities, termed "contact recreation" in the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards. The contact recreation standards originally established by TCEQ set a "one size fits all" criterion to protect contact recreation. The criterion for freshwater of 126 colonies ofE. coli per 100 milliliters (mL) of water applied to most perennial freshwater bodies, regardless of size, depth, flow rate or "swimability" (the ability to put one's head under water or ingest water). For example, Waller Creek, which flows through downtown Austin and offers very few recreational opportunities, was afforded the same protection as Lake Travis, which supports thousands of water recreationalists each year.

1.     Primary Contact Recreation (PCR): This is the most stringent category and applies to water bodies where ingestion is likely to occur. Examples of PCR include swimming, water skiing and diving. The freshwater criterion for PCR is a geometric mean of 126 colonies E. coli/100 mL. This is the same criterion TCEQ historically applied to most freshwater bodies in the state.

2.     Secondary Contact Recreation 1 (SCR1): Applies to water bodies where water recreation can occur, but the nature of the recreation does not involve a significant risk of ingestion. Examples include fishing and non-whitewater boating like motor boating. The freshwater criterion for SCR1 is a geometric mean of 630 colonies E. coli/100 mL.

3.     Secondary Contact Recreation 2 (SCR2): Applies to water bodies where water recreation activities do not involve a significant risk of water ingestion and where activities occur less frequently than for Secondary Contact Recreation 1 due to physical characteristics of the water body or limited public access. The freshwater criterion for SCR 2 is a geometric mean of 1,030 colonies E. coli/100 mL.

4.     Noncontact Recreation (NCR): Applies to water bodies such as the Houston Ship Channel, where primary and secondary contact activities should not occur due to unsafe conditions (like barge traffic). The freshwater criterion for NCR is a geometric mean of 2,060 colonies E. coli/100 mL.

How the categories protect water quality
Every two years, TCEQ assesses data collected from Texas lakes and streams to determine if Texas Surface Water Quality Standards are being met. When making that determination for contact recreation, TCEQ presumes that all Texas water bodies are used for primary contract recreation, unless specifically designated otherwise. This presumption applies the most protective freshwater criterion (126 colonies E. coli /100 mL).

If TCEQ finds a water body does not meet contact recreation standards, it may perform a recreational use attainability analysis to determine if the standard is appropriate. This special study helps determine the level of contact recreation that occurs within a water body and measures the physical characteristics that affect recreation, such as water depth and availability of public access. If appropriate, TCEQ may adopt a revised site-specific contact recreation standard as a result of the study findings. If a change to the standard is not warranted and current water quality data indicate the criterion is being violated, the assimilative capacity of the water body and sources of bacteria must be determined. This is usually accomplished through management measures such as a Total Maximum Daily Load or a Watershed Protection Plan.

Colorado River Watch Network volunteers Lenny Blumberg (pictured) and wife Donna collect E. coli samples on Walnut Creek.

2014 Revisions to the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards

On Feb. 12, 2014, TCEQ commissioners adopted the latest revisions to the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards. One of the revisions included the addition of a Primary Contact Recreation 2 (PCR2) category. If approved by EPA, PCR2 will establish a freshwater criterion of 206 colonies E. coli/100 mL of water for some water bodies where primary contact recreation activities take place, but occur on a less frequent basis due to physical characteristics of the water body or limited public access.

Contact recreation is a small but important part of the water quality standards. For more information about the standards, including the latest revisions, visitwww.tceq.texas.gov/waterquality/standards.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Water Well Checkup
Wednesday, April 9
Southwest Travis County and northern Hays County

The Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District is working with The Texas Well Owner Network to provide a free water well screening day for area residents on Apr. 9, 2014. Well owners must pre-register to get sampling supplies and instructions. Samples will be analyzed for nitrates, bacteria and salinity. For more information, visit www.bseacd.org/education/well-owners.

Keep Austin Beautiful Clean Sweep
Saturday, April 12
9–11 a.m.
Citywide cleanup at locations all over Austin
Environmental fair and volunteer party begin at 11 a.m.
Fiesta Gardens, 2100 Jesse E. Segovia St.
Austin

Family Water Fest and Colorado River Ramble
Sunday, April 13
9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Fiesta Gardens, 2100 Jesse E. Segovia St.
Austin

Join the Colorado River Alliance and the Expedition School for this great family event on the shores of Lady Bird Lake. The Colorado River Ramble boat race begins at 9 a.m. and the festival runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Groundwater to the Gulf registration open
June 23-26
Locations all over Austin

Calling all Central Texas educators! Groundwater to the Gulf is a free educator training workshop that covers a vast array of water resource science topics and issues.

MONITOR SPOTLIGHT

Inspiring the next generation of water quality stewards: meet Adam Comer
By Jacob Daniel Apodaca, LCRA water quality coordinator

Adam Comer is the program coordinator for the Austin Youth River Watch. He supervises and plans activities during fall and spring semesters for five different high school groups in the Austin Independent School District. He meets with a different group of high school students, known as River Watchers, each weekday after school until 8 pm. He also assists in planning and supervising the Summer Leadership Program, a six-week program focused on water quality testing and developing River Watch leaders or mentors to serve the newer, younger students for the next program year.

Austin Youth River Watchers learn how to test water quality using the Colorado River Watch Network (CRWN) testing protocol and are expected to teach others, including new students and volunteers. On weekends and during spring break, they participate in educational activities that reinforce the principles of water quality and introduce lessons in aquatic ecology, biological monitoring and stream restoration methods.

"Water quality monitoring is the core of our after-school and summer programs," Comer said. "The Program Director and I are committed to testing the water with our students at our 24 CRWN sites in and around the Austin area every month. This provides us with the wonderful opportunity to test water every weekday with the River Watchers.

"I'm in my fifth year of water quality monitoring with the CRWN program, and in that time, I've learned a great deal about not only water quality dynamics in our local streams and the Colorado River, but also the importance of water quantity and conservation in a major growing urban center," he said. "I plan to continue to learn more about stream health and stay engaged with what's happening with the water quality and quantity in our area."

Adam Comer holds a gar (Lepisosteus spp.) to show Austin Youth River Watch students.

Austin Youth River Watch monitoring sites vary, ranging from highly urban channels with copious trash from storm runoff to more rural, slowly meandering sites on the Colorado River with beautiful vistas and an array of wildlife sightings.

Staff and students have been paying particular attention to a stretch of the Colorado River beginning just downstream of Longhorn Dam to Webberville. In the summer of 2011, in the midst of one of the driest years on record, River Watchers routinely found low dissolved oxygen levels of less than 3.0 milligrams/liter under the Montopolis Bridge at Highway 183. KXAN-TV News and other media sources picked up the story, informing a larger audience of the dynamic processes of water quality and quantity in a growing urban center and the importance of regular monitoring to better inform the public and policymakers of issues that arise.

River Watchers have continued to keep watch over that stretch of the Colorado River. This past summer, the river suffered from an inundation of aquatic vegetation, obstructing passage for boaters and creating other annoyances.

"From a water quality standpoint, it is a concern when the vegetative mats collectively die and begin decomposing because it lowers dissolved oxygen levels to dangerous levels for fish and aquatic life," Comer said. "Unfortunately, I feel we may see a similar situation this summer on that stretch of the river."

Water quality monitoring has been a big part of the program for more than 20 years and has provided holistic youth development and support to lead underserved high school students to graduation.

For more information about Austin Youth River Watch, please visit at www.ayrw.org. Austin Youth River Watch invites anyone interested in learning more about the program to attend a one-hour interactive program called River Watch: Next Steps that takes place twice a month. Please visit www.ayrw.org/join-us-for-river-watch-next-steps for more details and upcoming dates.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

LCRA Water Quality Advisory Committees
The Colorado River basin Clean Rivers Program recently reorganized the river's watershed into four different stakeholder regions: Upper, Hill Country, Mid-Central, and Lower. These stakeholder regions are referred to as Water Quality Advisory Committees. Annual meetings are held in each region to address local water quality concerns, updates and projects (see recent meeting minutes). If you live, work or enjoy recreation in the Colorado River watershed, then you are a stakeholder for the LCRA Water Quality Advisory Committees. We invite you to get involved with water quality in your basin. Emailcrp@lcra.org to be included in committee correspondence and meeting announcements.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Mobile Apps
New iPhone apps have been developed for pond and fish management, calculating livestock stocking rates, and options for controlling feral hogs.

IN REMEMBRANCE

John Ahrns was many things to many people—a naturalist, educator, environmental steward, husband, father, friend and all-around outstanding person. In the late 1970s, John was instrumental in establishingWestcave Preserve in western Travis County, where he served as the preserve director and lead educator. In 1996, he began monitoring water quality with the LCRA Colorado River Watch Network (CRWN) program. After retiring from his work at Westcave in 2011, John moved to Fredericksburg, where he continued his water quality monitoring at multiple sites on Baron's Creek. His last CRWN data submittal was on Dec. 11, 2013, and he passed away on Jan. 20, 2014. John was a true inspiration and dear friend who will be greatly missed. Read more about John's life and environmental work.

John Ahrns was an accomplished naturalist and water quality steward who inspired many in his lifetime.