Summer 2009 - Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

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GBRA Helps Organize Kyle Citizensto Clean Up Park and Plum CreekAproductive volunteer effort in the City of Kyle led to more than 4.5 miles ofPlum Creek and its watershed being cleaned up by hundreds of citizens. GBRAjoined the City of Kyle Parks and Recreation Department to lead the tremendouscleanup effort.Sponsored by Keep Texas Beautiful, the Steeplechase Park clean-up is an annualevent in the city. However, 2009 was different from previous years, when typicallyless than 50 volunteers participated. This year, about 485 volunteers worked on bothFriday and Saturday to clean up Steeplechase Park and surrounding areas, includingthe walking trail of Plum Creek Subdivision in Kyle.Because of the large number of volunteers that showed up, cleanup efforts wereexpanded beyond the municipal park boundaries, including a few high traffic and newconstruction areas in Kyle.Planning efforts between the Kyle Parks and Recreation Department, GBRA,community clubs and environmental organizations started months in advanceto organize the event. “GBRA was interested in taking on a leadership role in thecleanup this year as a part of its continued public communications emphasis on thePlum Creek Watershed,” said Debbie Magin, GBRA’s director of water quality.Kyle Parks and Recreation Director Kerry Urbanowicz estimated that about 380 ofthe volunteers were under age 18. Many of the youngest volunteers were students ofNegley and Fuentes elementary schools. Fourth grade students at both ofthese schools participated in a year-long monitoring project that focused onthe Plum Creek watershed, led by GBRA Education Coordinator CindeThomas-Jimenez.The students’ knowledge of the importance of nonpoint source pollutionto water quality in the creek was demonstrated by the Negley teacher andstudent-generated idea to flag pet waste in the parks. The day beforethe cleanup, more than 200 students from the two schools ventured outinto the parks with landscape flags to identify the location of illegallydeposited pet waste (pet waste that was not removed and disposed ofby pet owners). The flagged waste was removed by adult volunteers thefollowing day. To address this growing problem, the work detail includedinstallation of new pet waste stations.On cleanup day, volunteers that included Lehman High School students,boy and girl scouts, local businessmen and women, were provided allnecessary supplies and separated into various work areas. They removedtrash, bottles, debris and brush that had accumulated in the creek. Theeffort yielded about 2,000 pounds of trash from the park, including petwaste. Another 1,560 pounds of recyclable items, such as glass, dryplastic, tires and paper were delivered to the local recycling center.After the event, volunteers were treated to pizza, music and anenvironmental fair, where they had an opportunity to learn more aboutprotecting their local environment. Organizations presenting informationduring the Environmental Fair included GBRA, the Plum Creek WatershedPartnership, Texas Agri-Life Extension Service, Texas Stream Team,Texas Disposal Systems and Texas Parks and Wildlife.6Photos by Liz SedlacekVolunteers from all areas of Kyle, including students in Hays ConsolidatedIndependant School District, help clean up Plum Creek and Steeplechase parkin Kyle.
Cow Creek GCD Gets Real-time MonitoringAfter months of planning, a real-time monitoring system wasimplemented for the Cow Creek Groundwater ConservationDistrict through a pilot project with the Texas Commission onEnvironmental Quality (TCEQ).Six well sites have been equipped with monitors for water depth,conductivity and temperature. The sites, selected primarily because oftheir proximity to thepumping centers in theCow Creek GCD servicearea, provide data thatwill allow Cow CreekGCD to determine what,if any, measures needto be taken to addressthe influence of surfacewater on groundwaterquality and if non-pointsource pollution isoccurring. This data setwill help them makemanagement decisionsrelated to desiredfuture conditions of the aquifer, drought management issues, andgroundwater availability issues.The TCEQ got involved in the continuous water quality monitoring toaddress local water quality issues, which might include managing waterresources, assessing water quality, and tracking implementation ofTotal Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and watershed protection plans,”Richard Garcia, TCEQ’s Region 13 director, said.“The data will help the District implement more accurate droughttriggers and also determine water quality and quantity changes duringrainfall events,”explained MicahVoulgaris, Cow CreekGCD general manager.“The program,” headded, “should alsoprovide data that canbe used to calibratesome of the existingmodels of the aquifer.The more data theDistrict can collecton what is actuallyhappening in theaquifer, the more informed decisions it will be able to make about themanagement of the groundwater resources.”TCEQ staff members Garcia and Chuck Dvorsky, continuous waterquality monitoring network (CWQMN) coordinator, worked with thestaffs of Cow Creek GCD, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority7(GBRA), and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to identifythe data needs and the ways to collect the data for Cow Creek GCD tomanage its underground water.“It was important to initiate this kind of project because of thesignificance of the Trinity Aquifer, and this type of monitoring system isneeded for aquifers throughout the state,” said Bill West, GBRA generalThe table below contains hourly averages for all the pollutants and meteorologicalconditions measured at Cordillera Ranch Well C775 for Monday, July 27, 2009.manager, who led thepush for Cow CreekGCD to obtain the newmonitoring system.“With the exception ofthe Edwards Aquifer,there are not manyaquifers that haveelectronic monitoring.”Cow Creek staffwrote and submitteda proposal to TCEQ,which prompted TCEQto request a projectplan from Cow Creek.Upon approval, TCEQpurchased and installed the instrumentation at six wells at a total costof about $45,000. TWDB monitored the installation and checked thesystem. The system became operational by the end of March, and allsix Cow Creek GCD CWQMN well monitors are online and reportingdata to the LEADS database.Prior to the implementation of this electronic monitoring system,Cow Creek conducted manual monitoring.Tommy Hill, GBRA’s chief engineer, explained, “Every district needsmonitoring for anaccurate assessment ofwater availability, so theelectronic monitoringcan provide data in itsmost current form.”One of the goalsof this system is tomonitor water quality,West said, adding,“This project isimportant for GBRA inthat it provides areal-time look at potential impacts on the river level and how it mightaffect some of GBRA’s customer’s within Kendall County.”As an indication of just how committed GBRA is to this project andits success, GBRA’s Water Quality Department is providing the waterdata quality control component of the project, West said.The CAM sites may be viewed directly at the following links:http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/water_site_photo.pl?cams=775http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/water_site_photo.pl?cams=776http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/water_site_photo.pl?cams=777http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/water_site_photo.pl?cams=778http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/water_site_photo.pl?cams=779http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/water_site_photo.pl?cams=780
Page 6 and 7: Lab Director Earns Excellence Award
Page 10 and 11: Governor Appoints Fair Oaks RanchBu
Page 12 and 13: Research Gives New Insightsinto the
Page 14 and 15: “There was the largest die-off of
Page 16 and 17: , continuedThis year, the aquifer l
Page 18 and 19: Tree-ring Studyby Joel Williamsto S
Page 20 and 21: INSIDE GBRAGBRA Volunteers Make Imp
Page 22 and 23: employee anniversariesGBRA recogniz
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Summer 2009 - Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

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