TR-485 Carters Creek Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation Project Routine, Reconnaissance and Stormwater Monitoring Report: Tasks 4 and 5
Authors: B. Jonescu, L. Gregory, A. Gitter, K. Wagner
The Carters Creek watershed is a tributary of the Navasota River and covers an area of about 56.9 square miles in Brazos County. Approximately 57% of this area is urbanized (Figure 1), primarily by the cities of Bryan and College Station. Within the Carters Creek watershed, Carters Creek, Burton Creek and Country Club Branch are all considered impaired due to elevated levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli). The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) denotes these waterbodies as segments 1209C, 1209L and 1209D respectively. These waterbodies were listed on the TCEQ’s 303(d) list for bacterial impairments starting in 1999 for Carters Creek and 2006 for Burton Creek and Country Club Branch (TCEQ 2012). Each of these waterbodies was listed impaired for not meeting the E. coli standard for Primary Contact Recreation which is a geometric mean of 126 colony forming units (CFU)/100 mL of water. Initial listing of these waterbodies was supported by monitoring conducted by TCEQ and the Brazos River Authority (BRA). In 2014, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) was completed for each creek and as a result, they are proposed for delisting in the 2014 Texas Integrated Report (TCEQ 2014).