MINUTES                                                                        DRAFT 1 – Printed 6/6/2005 4:56 PM

Orange County TMDL Project, SAG Meeting #6

Sabine River Authority of Texas

Authority General Office, Orange, Texas

Tuesday, November 16, 2004, 2:00 – 5:00 PM

 

Welcome & Introductions (Ann Galassi, Sabine River Authority)

 

Notebook Handouts (Miles Hall, SRA)

  • Agenda
  • August 31, 2004, SAG Meeting #5 Notes (DRAFT)
  • Slide Presentations
    • The Orange County TMDL Project (Ward Ling, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)
    • Water Quality Modeling: Science or Art? (Dr. Kirk Dean, Parsons)
  • SAG (Stakeholders Advisory Group) and TAG (Technical Advisory Group) Membership lists (as of November 16, 2004)

Approve Minutes from August 31, 2004, SAG Meeting #5 (Ann Galassi, SRA)

Meeting notes unanimously approved (with correction to a minor typo).

 

Project Status Reports (Ward Ling, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; Dr. Kirk Dean, Parsons)

 

Discussion Items

 

The data are undergoing Quality Assurance/Quality Control prior to being submitted to Parsons for modeling.

 

Sampling Results (Jerry Wiegreffe, SRA)

 

Discussion Items

 

Adams Bayou

 

Stormwater sampling events are complete. The analysis is ongoing in the SRA Environmental Services Department Laboratory. Bacteriological (E. coli) preliminary results—appear to be high. Values measured > 1,000 mpn/100ml (most probable number per 100 milliliters); high for normal surface waters, and exceed the numeric stream standards criteria for E. Coli, 394 mpn/100ml.

 

Final stormwater sampling event had 5-6 inches of rain, and took three days to complete. Water was over the culvert at Gum Gully. The FM 1078 site had heavy traffic at night.

 

E. Coli values were largest at Adams Bayou at Park Avenue and Interstate-10. Comment made that Sunset Grove has settling ponds that they drain occasionally.

 

Q. Did they take these measurements on Adams Bayou?

A. No; did transects to measure profiles.

 

Q. What is the maximum depth of Adams Bayou?

A. Possibly 8-10 feet.

 

Cow Bayou

 

Q. Has flow velocity been plotted yet?

A. No. Expect velocity to decline as sediments drop out as the channel widens.

 

Depth can affect results.

 

Q. Will there be inherit bias in the second Adams Bayou sampling because of the rain?

A. More likely a “slant” – representative of different conditions.

 

 

Outreach Committee Report – Status of Planning for January 2005 Clean Bayous Fair
(SAG Member Robert Dupree)

 

Discussion Items

 

Suggestion made to do an all day Coastal Expo; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has a grant to fund these. Also, yearly Neches River Festival mentioned as a possible model program.

 

Reminder was made that the Clean Bayous Fair is the immediate target, but that the outreach effort goes beyond the January 2005 event.

 

Q. What range of technical comments does Ward intend to make during his presentation?

A. Will start at Ground Zero (“What is a TMDL?”) and give an overview of where we are now and a preview of things to come. Public needs to understand that there will be an outcome to the TMDL Project: a plan to improve the water quality, and not just a study. The presentation will not be too technical, and should last no longer than 10 minutes.

 

Public Comment/ Discussion (Ann Galassi, SRA)

 

No public comments.

 

Planning for Next Meeting (Ann Galassi, SRA)

 

The next SAG/TAG meeting was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, 2005, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM at the SRA Authority General Office. Potential presentations and topics of discussion include a critique of January 2005 Clean Bayous Fair and an introduction to water quality/watershed modeling.

 

Adjourn