Water Resources
Water Quality and Management
Water quality requirements depend on the water's intended or designated uses. For a water quality problem to exist, the water must be impaired for one or more uses, such as drinking water supply, fishing, recreation, wildlife habitat, livestock, or irrigation.
The NRCS website provides a comprehensive collection of information on water quality and water management.
Plum Creek Watershed
Many of the activities of an SWCD are based on geographical areas known as a watersheds. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a watershed as "an area of land that drains water, sediment and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet. The term is not restricted to surface water runoff and includes interactions with subsurface water. Watersheds vary from the largest river basins to just acres or less in size."
The Caldwell-Travis SWCD primary watershed concern is the Plum Creek Watershed. According to Guadalupe Blanco River Authority (GBRA) "Plum Creek is a 52-mile stream that begins in Hays County north of Kyle and flows southeast through Caldwell County, passing Lockhart and Luling before meeting the San Marcos River near the Caldwell-Gonzales County line". GBRA also states "with additional flow from Clear Fork, West Fork, Bunton Branch, Town Branch, Salt Branch, and other small streams, Plum Creek and its tributaries drain an area of 397 square miles".
Click the map for a GBRA's larger image of the Plum Creek Watershed.
GBRA also provides an interesting array of other watershed maps on their website.
Water quality is monitored along Plum Creek as it is designated as habitat for aquatic life, contact recreation use, and fish consumption.
As part of the focused efforts to restore and protect water quality, the Plum Creek Watershed is covered by a Watershed Protection Plan (WPP). An important facet of the WPP is non-point source pollution (NPS). The EPA website provides a detailed description of NPS.
Programs offered through the Caldwell-Travis SWCD address water quality components and work to mitigate non-point source pollution of our local watershed.