2026 Technical Reports
TR-570 Continued Monitoring on Deer and Pond Creeks to Support Watershed Characterization
Author: Anna Eismont
Deer Creek and Pond Creek are located within the larger Brazos River Basin. Deer Creek begins west of the unincorporated community of Chilton and flows east to its confluence with the Brazos River within Falls County. Pond Creek begins northwest of the unincorporated community of Belfalls and flows southeast to the Brazos River in Milam County. AUs within both watersheds are listed as impaired in the Texas Integrated Report (TCEQ, 2024). This report will focus on the impaired AUs on Deer Creek (1242J_01) and Pond Creek (1242F_01).
Water quality in these creeks as reported in the Texas Integrated Report currently exceeds primary recreational use standards for bacteria concentrations (TCEQ, 2024). Deer Creek was first listed in the 2006 Texas Integrated Report (TCEQ, 2006) and an AU of Pond Creek was designated impaired in 2010 (TCEQ, 2010). In the 2024 report, the Escherichia coli (E. coli) geometric means for these creeks ranged from approximately 187 to 242 most probable number (MPN) /100 mL, which is above the applicable water quality primary contact recreation standards of 126 MPN/100 mL in place for the tributaries (TCEQ, 2024).
