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Implementing a Plan for Water Quality and Watershed Restoration through Assessment, Assistance, Awareness and Involvement

Objectives

  • To implement some of the highest priority practices recommended in the WPP that has been developed for the Pecos River in Texas as a means to improve the quality of water in the river and throughout the watershed
  • To continue chemical saltcedar treatments along the riparian corridor in areas that have not already been treated and encourage landowners to voluntarily implement recommended management practices on their land, especially those that address nutrient and sediment loss and consequently affect dissolved oxygen levels, by offering technical and financial assistance
  • To provide educational opportunities for watershed landowners and residents to increase their awareness about watersheds, watershed management and stewardship and the influences that individuals can have on water quality in the Pecos
  • To facilitate good working relationships with watershed landowners and establish long-term restoration oriented efforts that lead to the sustainability of the WPP implementation effort and ultimate restoration and protection of the water body

Project Components

  • Chemical treatment of saltcedar in the riparian corridor using aerially applied herbicide
  • Debris burning in the riparian corridor to remove dead saltcedar from previous treatment efforts
  • Development of 20 Water Quality Management Plans to improve watershed management, enhance watershed health and restore water quality
  • Establishment of 10 additional saltcedar leaf beetle populations as a means for long-term saltcedar management in the watershed
  • Continued delivery of educational programming across the watershed
  • Development of a computer-based watershed model to evaluate DO levels in the river, identify the source of pollutants limiting DO levels and to recommend management measures that will rectify pollutant loadings and restore DO levels in the river
  • Enhance water quality monitoring in the watershed through the installation of a new real-time water quality monitoring station near Girvin, TX

Environmental Protection Agency The Texas Clean Rivers Program Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board