Upcoming Meetings—Background—Past Meetings—Additional Information
Upcoming Meetings
There are no meetings scheduled at this time. The next meeting for the dioxin TMDL project will probably be once draft TMDL reports are prepared, possibly late fall of 2008. The next meeting for the PCB TMDL may be in early 2009.
Background
The State of Texas currently requires water quality in various parts of the Houston Ship Channel and Upper Galveston Bay to be suitable for contact and noncontact recreation, fishing, navigation, industrial water supply, and aquatic life; however, not all of these segments are required to support all of these uses. | |
| Fishing is not supported in the area as a result of a seafood consumption advisory (ADV-3) for catfish and blue crab issued September 1990 by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS). The advisory was issued to protect consumers from adverse health effects caused by dioxin found in specimens analyzed from the area. Dioxin is a generic term for a suite of toxic and environmentally persistent compounds. |
Subsequently, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were detected in fish tissue, and the DSHS issued consumption advisory ADV-20 in October 2001, for all species of finfish in much of the Houston Ship Channel. In January 2005, the DSHS issued another advisory related to PCBs, ADV-28, for speckled trout, also known as spotted seatrout or spotted weakfish, in Upper Galveston Bay and a large percentage of the Houston Ship Channel. An additional advisory, ADV-35, for gafftopsail catfish and speckled trout in Galveston Bay was issued in 2008 for dioxin and PCBs. More information about seafood advisories can be found on the DSHS website: www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood
In response to these conditions, two total maximum daily load (TMDL) projects, one for dioxins and one for PCBs, have been initiated to determine the measures necessary to restore water quality in water bodies affected by the consumption advisories in the Houston Ship Channel and Upper Galveston Bay. The goal of a TMDL is to determine the amount (or load) of a pollutant that a body of water can receive and still support its designated uses. This allowable load is then allocated among all the potential sources of pollution within the watershed, and measures to reduce pollutant loads are developed as necessary. The Houston Metro TMDL project is still collecting and analyzing data.
Subsequently, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were detected in fish tissue, and the DSHS issued consumption advisory ADV-20 in October 2001, for all species of finfish in much of the Houston Ship Channel. In January 2005, the DSHS issued another advisory related to PCBs, ADV-28, for speckled trout, also known as spotted seatrout or spotted weakfish, in Upper Galveston Bay and a large percentage of the Houston Ship Channel. An additional advisory, ADV-35, for gaftopsail catfish and speckled trout in Galveston Bay was issued in 2008 for dioxin and PCBs. More information about seafood advisories can be found on the DSHS website: In response to these conditions, two total maximum daily load (TMDL) projects, one for dioxins and one for PCBs, have been initiated to determine the measures necessary to restore water quality in water bodies affected by the consumption advisories in the Houston Ship Channel and Upper Galveston Bay. The goal of a TMDL is to determine the amount (or load) of a pollutant that a body of water can receive and still support its designated uses. This allowable load is then allocated among all the potential sources of pollution within the watershed, and measures to reduce pollutant loads are developed as necessary. The Houston Metro TMDL project is still collecting and analyzing data.
Past Meetings
2008 August 28: 2008 August 28: Draft Summary (PDF) 39K
2008 August 28: Dioxin Presentation (PDF) 2.2M
2008 August 28: PCB Presentation (PDF) 2.3M
2007 October 31: Agenda (PDF) 9K | Summary (PDF) 11K
2007 June 21: Agenda (PDF) 16K | Summary (PDF) 10K
2007 April 5: Agenda (PDF) 16K
2006 September 19: Agenda (PDF) 16K | Summary (PDF) 10K
2006 June 16: Agenda (PDF) 16K | Summary (PDF) 12K
2006 January 12: Agenda (PDF) 16K | Summary (PDF) 14K
2005 August 31: Agenda (PDF) 16K | Summary (PDF) 73K
2005 February 2: Agenda (PDF) 16K | Summary (PDF) 17K
2005 February 2:Presentation (PPT) 17M
2004 January 7: Agenda (PDF) 7K | Summary (PDF) 16K
2003 March 26: Agenda (PDF) 15K | Summary (PDF) 12K
2002 June 12: Summary (PDF) 18K
2001 March 1: Summary (PDF) 15K
2001 January 16: Summary (PDF) 45K
Links and Additional Information
The TCEQ maintains webpages for the projects:
Dioxin TMDL: www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/water/tmdl/26-hscdioxin.html
PCB TMDL: www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/water/tmdl/78-hsc-pcbs.html
For more information, contact Rachel Powers:
Rachel.Powers@h-gac.com
(713) 993-4559