Weakening the definition of "polluted" doesn't protect
children. Children wade in water wherever they find
it.
August 3, 2010
ALERT: The Battle for Clean Water in Texas Continues!
Look for Public Meetings in Your Area to Voice Your Opinion on Water Quality!
At the end of June Texans won a significant though partial victory when the Texas Commission on Environmental (TCEQ) Commissioners unanimously decided NOT to lower the bacteria pollution standards for "primary contact recreation" streams (those streams where people swim, wade, etc.). Although this was a victory, TCEQ Chairman Shaw made it clear that he wanted the TCEQ staff to work to "streamline" the process by which a stream could be re-classified as not being used for such primary contact recreation.
This process of potentially reclassifying streams involves doing what are called "recreational use attainability analyses" or RUAAs. By conducting one of these RUAAs to determine whether a stream is actually used for activities such as swimming and wading. If
TCEQ determines that the stream is not used for such recreation,
then it could be reclassified as "secondary contact recreation" (activities such as boating where there is less likelihood of ingestion of water by humans) or even "noncontact
recreation."
By reclassifying a stream as “secondary recreation” or “noncontact” recreation
TCEQ could allow dramatically higher levels of bacteria (for
which E coli is the indicator) in the stream. That means
that TCEQ would not have to develop plans to clean up bacterial
pollution in the stream.
On July 28 the TCEQ Commissioners met again and received a report from their staff on the "streamlining" of these RUAAs. The staff reported that RUAAs for 53 streams have already been completed and have been reviewed by or under review by TCEQ staff. They intend to complete RUAAs for another 56 steams this year and 15 next year. Moreover, they have identified other streams where they want to do RUAAs in the future.
This could lead to a wholesale lowering of bacteria pollution standards for a large number of Texas streams, which would knock those streams off clean-up lists and virtually assure their continued pollution and/or future degradation.
IF YOU CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF CLEAN WATER IN TEXAS YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT T.C.E.Q. IS DOING AND GET INVOLVED IN THIS PROCESS.
TCEQ has announced five public meetings that will be held this month to present results of the RUAA reports on five different streams: Caney
Creek (Wharton area), Brushy Creek (Round Rock), Dickinson
Bayou (Friendswood), Navasota River (Navasota), and Armand
Bayou (Houston). The details are presented below under "Meetings" (which is an excerpt from the TCEQ website).
HOWEVER, in addition to the public meetings announced below, there is at least one other public meeting this month on yet another RUAA which is just getting underway - an RUAA on Lower
Cibolo Creek, which is in the San Antonio River Basin. San Antonio River Authority is very concerned about this TCEQ effort and has decided to join with TCEQ to conduct this public meeting this Thursday near Stockdale, Texas. The River Authority is trying to get the word out about this public meeting since TCEQ was not doing adequate public outreach. Contact San Antonio River Authority (Laura Waldurm at 1-866-345-7272) if you want to keep informed about this process on Lower Cibolo Creek.
The public meeting on the Lower Cibolo
Creek RUAA is at 6 PM in the Parish Hall of St. Ann's Catholic Church, 8161 FM 541 East (78160) right outside Stockdale (officially the community name is Kosciusko). Here is the
official announcement.
There may be more public meetings scheduled on other RUAAs that are not being publicized by TCEQ because there is not information on the TCEQ website about the meeting on Lower Cibolo Creek. Here is the link to the (now somewhat outdated) TCEQ website on RUAAs: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/water/tmdl/94-neneasttexruaa.html
This RUAA process appears to be another
example of TCEQ’s unwillingness to act strongly to protect the Texas environment.
Instead of cleaning up streams so that more streams are available and attractive for recreation the agency seems to prefer re-defining polluted streams as “clean” so that no further action is needed to develop clean-up plans for those streams.
The result may be the slow, steady, insidious, bureaucratic downgrading of our water quality and therefore of our quality of life in Texas – unless
Texans who care about clean water act now to involve themselves
in this process.
***********************
Public Meetings on RUAAs Announced on TCEQ Website
Meetings about this project are open to everyone.
Caney Creek RUAA
August 5th, 2010,
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Wharton County Library
1920 N. Fulton Wharton, Texas 77488 Caney Creek Meeting Agenda
Mapquest location of meeting site
Brushy Creek RUAA
August 13th, 2010,
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Round Rock Public Library
Meeting Room A
216 E. Main Street Round Rock, Texas 78664 Agenda: Brushy Creek
Mapquest location of meeting site
Dickinson Bayou RUAA
August 16, 2010,
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District
1605 Whitaker Drive Friendswood, Texas 77546 Agenda: Dickinson Bayou Meeting
Mapquest location of meeting site
The Drainage District is behind Parkwood Animal Hospital at 1301 Parkwood (FM 528).
The Police Station is on the same street as the District.
Navasota River RUAA
August 19th, 2010,
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Navasota Center
LaSalle Room
101 Stadium Drive Navasota, Texas 77868 Agenda: Navasota River Meeting
Armand Bayou
August 31, 2010,
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH)
North Office Annex (NOA) Building
University of Houston at Clear Lake Houston, Texas 77058 Agenda: Armand Bayou Meeting Map to meeting site
Exit CLEAR LAKE CITY BLVD Off of Interstate-45, to Middlebrook Drive;
Use Campus Entrance #3 (which is NOT the third turn into the campus off of Middlebrook)
