Middle Yegua Creek watershed protection meeting will be May 14 in Giddings
Residents invited to learn about, contribute to improving water quality in Middle Yegua Creek
The public is invited to attend a project meeting and join the Middle Yegua Creek Watershed Partnership on May 14 in Giddings.
The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office for Lee County, 310 S. Grimes St.
The partnership meeting will serve as the forum for public input, which will drive the development of a voluntary, stakeholder-driven watershed protection plan, WPP, for Middle Yegua Creek. The WPP will outline strategies that can improve local water quality.
Latest meeting part of an ongoing series
This event will be the project’s fourth stakeholder meeting. The meeting will recap discussions from the March 12 meeting and address revisions made to Chapter 4 regarding potential sources of pollutants based on stakeholder inputs. A new chapter of the WPP will then be presented.
“At the fourth public meeting, we will discuss existing bacteria loads in Middle Yegua Creek and the reduction needed to meet the applicable water quality standards,” said Luna Yang, Texas Water Resources Institute, TWRI, research specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Bryan-College Station. “We will also discuss the distribution of potential bacteria loads across the watershed by source, including livestock, wildlife and failing septic tanks. In addition, we will identify sub-areas within the watershed that can be prioritized for implementing management measures.”
Anyone with an interest in restoring the soundness of Middle Yegua Creek can be a member of the partnership by attending meetings and providing feedback, Yang said.
Located above Lake Somerville, Middle Yegua Creek is a tributary in the Brazos River Basin.
The partnership was initiated when water samples collected in Middle Yegua Creek by the Brazos River Authority and TWRI confirmed the presence of bacteria concentrations above the applicable standard for recreational activities that may involve water ingestion, Yang said.
Funding for developing a watershed protection plan for Middle Yegua Creek is provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board through the State Nonpoint Source Grant Program.
TWRI is a unit of AgriLife Research that brings together expertise from across the Texas A&M University System.
For more information, contact Yang at luna.yang@ag.tamu.edu. Read more about the watershed at middleyegua.twri.tamu.edu.
