caldwell county regional water and wastewater planning study

SECTION 14REGIONAL WATER QUALITY PROTECTION PLAN14.1 IntroductionThe Caldwell County Regional Water Quality Protection Plan (CCRWQPP)identifies actions that will assist in preventing continuing degradation ofgroundwater and surface water quality within Caldwell County. Regional waterquality measures are necessary to assist in maintaining healthy streams,preventing contamination of groundwater from surface sources and in support ofefforts to improve the quality of water flowing in streams within the county.Segments of Plum Creek, the major drainage Basin within Caldwell County, haveexperienced declining water quality with increasing nutrient concentrations,sediment loads and bacterial contamination. Stream segment 1810 of Plum Creekwas listed in 2002 as an impaired stream segment in accordance the requirementsof the Federal Clean Water Act, Section 303(d).Measures presented in the CCRWQPP include structural and non-structural bestmanagement practices (BMPs) that can assist in reducing pollutant loads tostreams in the county, assist in improving water quality in streams and assist inguarding against groundwater degradation.14.2 Caldwell County WatershedsAs discussed in Section 2 of this Report, the streams that are included in theplanning region receive discharge from the Guadalupe and Colorado RiverBasins. The Colorado River Basin receives approximately 11 percent of thedrainage and the Guadalupe River Basin receives the remaining 89 percent. Thesub-watersheds of the Guadalupe River Basin in the county include Plum Creek(59%), the San Marcos River (16%), and Peach Creek (14%).14-1Klotz Associates Project No. 0972.000.000Caldwell County Regional Water and Wastewater Planning StudyJanuary 2010Final Report