The Angelina & Neches River Authority (ANRA) will host its annual Texas Clean Rivers Program Steering Committee Meeting at 1:00 p.m. on July 30, 2024, at the Texas Forestry Association, located at 1903 Atkinson Drive, in Lufkin. An online option will be available to those unable to attend in-person.
The meeting will feature presentations from ANRA staff, Texas Water Resource Institute staff, Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful Director, Ashley Villarreal, Texas Conservation Alliance Community Conservation Coordinator, Jose Lopez, The Citizen Nac Building and Booking Manager, Sam Hernandez, and Independent Filmmaker, Curtis Craven.
ANRA’s Clean Rivers Program Coordinator, Andrew Henry, said, “This meeting is a chance for the public to get involved and voice their concerns about water quality in our basin and learn about what we’ve been doing, where, and what is planned for the future.”
Attendees will have opportunities to ask questions, discuss water quality issues and potential solutions, and learn about ways that they can further become involved in decision-making, regarding these issues and solutions.
“Without stakeholder (public) input, ANRA must decide which watersheds to prioritize and conduct work in, and while we do our best to ensure we monitor and remediate the areas in our basin with the greatest need first, this has a possibility of not aligning with the priorities of the public. With stakeholder input, we can prioritize areas the public wants to see action in. Our stakeholders have the ability to steer ANRA toward water quality improvement projects they want to see done,” Henry said.
The Texas Clean Rivers Act of 1991 was enacted by the Texas State Legislature to ensure the comprehensive regional assessment of water quality in each river basin through a local, watershed-based approach. As a partner in the Texas Clean Rivers Program (CRP), the Angelina & Neches River Authority is the lead agency for regional water quality assessments in the Upper and Middle Neches River Basin Study Area.
The goal of the Clean Rivers Program is to maintain and improve the quality of water resources within each river basin in Texas through an ongoing partnership involving the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), other agencies, river authorities, regional entities, local governments, industries and citizens. Long-term goals, include: provide quality-assured data to the TCEQ for use in water quality decision-making, identify and evaluate water quality issues, promote cooperative watershed planning, inform and engage stakeholders, maintain efficient use of public funds, and adapt the program to emerging water quality issues.
The program’s watershed management approach is designed to identify and evaluate water quality issues, establish priorities for corrective action, work to implement those actions, and adapt to changing priorities.
Visit www.anra.org for more information about ANRA’s partnership with the Texas Clean River Program and water quality information in the Neches River Basin.
For more information about the meeting, call (936) 632-7795 or email ahenry@anra.org.
To join the meeting virtually, please use the Microsoft Teams link below.
Meeting ID: 231 605 367 943
Passcode: tmdpyc
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has made available for public comment the Implementation Plan (I-Plan) for five draft Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for indicator bacteria in Hillebrandt Bayou and Neches River Tidal, of the Neches-Trinity Coastal Basin and Neches River Basin, in Jasper, Orange, and Jefferson counties.
The purpose of the meeting is to provide the public an opportunity to comment on the draft I-Plan for five assessment units: 0601_01, 0601_02, 0601_03, 0601_04 and 0704_02.
After the public comment period, staff may make appropriate changes to the proposed I-Plan and will respond to public comments. Following the public comment period, the TMDL Program will request that the Commission consider approval of the final I-Plan. Upon approval, the final I-Plan and a response to all comments received will be made available on TCEQ’s website. The I-Plan, combined with the TMDL, provides local, regional, and state organizations with a comprehensive strategy for improving and maintaining water quality in an impaired watershed.
The public meeting for the draft I-Plan will be held at Jefferson County Extension Office, 1225 Pearl St, Ste 200, Beaumont, Texas 77701-3642 on February 28, 2023, at 6:00 p.m.
Meeting-related updates and documents are available on the project websites for Hillebrandt Bayou and Neches River Tidal.
During this meeting, individuals will have the opportunity to present oral statements. An agency staff member will give a brief presentation at the start of the meeting and will be available to answer questions before and after all oral statements have been received.
Written comments on the draft I-Plan may be submitted to Nicole Reed, Water Quality Planning Division, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, MC 203, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas, 78711-3087 or faxed to fax4808@tceq.texas.gov Electronic comments may be submitted at: https://tceq.commentinput.com/
All written comments must be received at TCEQ by midnight on March 14, 2023, and should reference Implementation Plan for five Total Maximum Daily Loads for Indicator Bacteria in Hillebrandt Bayou and Neches River Tidal.
For further information regarding the draft I-Plan, please contact Nicole Reed at Nicole.Reed@tceq.texas.gov
The draft I-Plan can be obtained via TCEQ’s website for each project at https://www.tceq.texas.gov/…/118-hillebrandtbayou-bacteria and https://www.tceq.texas.gov/…/nav/118-nechestidal-bacteria
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has made available for public comment the Implementation Plan (I-Plan) for four draft Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for indicator bacteria in Tributaries of the Neches River below Lake Palestine, of the Neches River Basin, in Angelina County.
The purpose of the meeting is to provide the public an opportunity to comment on the draft I-Plan for four assessment units: 0604A_02, 0604B_01, 0604C_01, and 0604M_03.
After the public comment period, staff may make appropriate changes to the proposed I-Plan and will respond to public comments. Following the public comment period, the TMDL Program will request that the Commission consider approval of the final I-Plan. Upon approval, the final I-Plan and a response to all comments received will be made available on TCEQ’s website. The I-Plan, combined with the TMDL, provides local, regional, and state organizations with a comprehensive strategy for improving and maintaining water quality in an impaired watershed.
The public meeting for the draft I-Plan will be held at the Angelina County Extension Office, 2201 S Medford Dr., Lufkin, Texas 75901 on February 27, 2023, at 6:00 p.m.
Meeting-related updates and documents are available on the project website at:
https://www.tceq.texas.gov/…/118-lufkinwatersheds-bacteria
Written comments on the draft TMDLs may be submitted to Nicole Reed, Water Quality Planning Division, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, MC 203, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas, 78711-3087 or faxed to fax4808@tceq.texas.gov.
Electronic comments may be submitted at: https://tceq.commentinput.com/
All written comments must be received at TCEQ by midnight on March 14, 2023, and should reference: Implementation Plan for four Total Maximum Daily Loads for Indicator Bacteria in Tributaries of the Neches River below Lake Palestine.
For further information regarding the draft I-Plan, please contact Nicole Reed at Nicole.Reed@tceq.texas.gov. The draft I-Plan can be obtained via TCEQ’s website.