25 Feb TCEQ Proposed Revisions that Weaken Efforts for Clean Water
EcoCommunity- take action now!
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is proposing revisions to the state’s water quality standards for rivers, lakes, and streams. Some of the revisions would weaken efforts to keep or make Texas water bodies clean enough for swimming, boating, wading, canoeing, kayaking, and other recreational activities.
Click here to act NOW to oppose these revisions!
The most troublesome revisions would:
- Redefine “contact recreation” into different categories of recreation and set weaker clean water standards for the new categories;
- Increase the levels of bacteria allowed in water bodies used for recreation, posing a greater risk of illness for people recreating in those streams and lakes;
- Increase the number of water samples required to classify a water body as “impaired” (polluted), thereby eliminating requirements for clean-up plans.
The result of these changes is that the water quality standards for bacterial pollution would be weakened for almost 300 water bodies in Texas!
Contact the TCEQ today: https://secure2.convio.
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PS: Here is some background on the TCEQ surface water quality standards revisions:
Under the federal Clean Water Act the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) adopts water quality standards for Texas lakes, rivers, and streams ("surface water"), subject to approval by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). TCEQ is required to periodically review these surface water quality standards and, as necessary, adopt revisions. TCEQ has now completed its latest review and has proposed significant weakening changes to the existing standards for bacterial pollution. The presence and levels of bacteria in the water may pose risks to the health of people recreating in or on the water. A large number of "stream segments" in Texas are currently classified as "impaired" (polluted) as a result of bacteria levels.
What is TCEQ’s response? Why, it’s to weaken the current standards, of course, so that as if by magic these streams are no longer classified as "impaired!" These changes include creating new categories of "contact recreation" and setting less protective bacterial levels for streams in those categories, increasing the level of bacterial pollution allowed in recreational streams, and increasing the number of water samples required to classify a stream as polluted with bacteria. The upshot is that, if these changes are adopted, clean-up plans for these streams will no longer be required and people will be at greater risk of illness from bacterial pollution when enjoying water-based recreation in Texas.
Click here to take action right now to protect Texas rivers, streams and lakes.
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