On May 3 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accepted the La Nana Bayou Watershed Protection Plan (WPP), which was developed by the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), Stephen F. Austin State University, Angelina & Neches River Authority, and stakeholders of Nacogdoches County.
Visit the La Nana Bayou website for more information and to read the WPP.
“The WPP is the result of the care and commitment that the Nacogdoches community has for its natural resources,” said Emily Monroe, TWRI project specialist who helped lead the development of the WPP, alongside stakeholders and partner agencies. “TWRI has been lucky to have so many great, long-standing partnerships with residents, business owners, local governments, and state agency representatives in the area.”
La Nana Bayou is a 32-mile freshwater stream that extends from the confluence of the Angelina River south of Nacogdoches in Nacogdoches County to the upstream perennial portion of the stream north of Nacogdoches in Nacogdoches County.
Routine water quality monitoring began in 1996 and led to the inclusion of La Nana Bayou on the Texas 303(d) List in 2000 as being impaired for bacteria. It remains impaired for not meeting its primary contact recreation standard. Concerns for elevated ammonia-nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen and total phosphorous exist in the downstream portion of the bayou.
TWRI performed an initial analysis of the La Nana Bayou watershed by completing a Watershed Characterization Report in 2019. This report analyzed potential causes and sources of pollution through the collection of water quality and watershed-related data, which laid the foundation for the WPP development process.
For more information about the ongoing work in La Nana Bayou watershed, contact Monroe at Emily.Monroe@ag.tamu.edu or (979) 314-2358.
