Project Goals/Objectives: Extension will continue to facilitate the Mill Creek Watershed Partnership through coordination with all key stakeholder groups and partner agencies. This will include organizing and conducting quarterly public meetings with the Partnership Steering Committee, as well as other planning and implementation meetings, as necessary and appropriate. Extension will facilitate collaborative efforts among project partners to implement management measures for all three key categories of nonpoint source pollution: urban, wastewater, and agricultural, including specific emphasis on measures identified in Tables 8.1 and 8.2 of the WPP. Extension will facilitate and coordinate outreach and education activities in the watershed to promote implementation of recommended management measures. Extension will work to track changes in water quality identified through monitoring, communicate results to stakeholders, and facilitate adaptive management activities to continue progress toward addressing nonpoint source water quality concerns in the watershed.
Project Background: Mill Creek (Segment 1202K) in the Brazos River Basin is identified as impaired on the 2012 303(d) list due to bacterial contamination. Data used for the 2012 Integrated Report was 25 samples taken during the 7-year period between December 2003 and November 2010, the geometric mean of these data for E. coli bacteria was 177 colony forming units per 100 milliliters (cfu/100 mL), which exceeds the state standard of 126 cfu/100 mL.
Project Location: Mill Creek watershed in Austin and Washington Counties
Project Website: http://millcreek.tamu.edu/
Project Costs: Federal: $115,533; Non-federal: $77,022; Total: $192,555
Project Participants: Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences; Mill Creek Watershed Partnership; Austin and Washington County Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD 347 & 348); Texas Water Resources Institute; Gideon-Lincecum Chapter – Texas Master Naturalist
Project Workplan: 19-12