TCEQ to host meeting on Trinity River water quality

TSCRA Daily News Update, August 20, 2008

TCEQ to host meeting on Trinity River water quality

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has scheduled a meeting to update stakeholders on the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load addressing Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Trinity River watershed.

The goal of a TMDL is to determine the amount (concentration or load) of a pollutant that a body of water can receive and still support its beneficial uses. This TMDL is designed to restore water quality and fish consumption from recreational fishing in four segments of the Trinity River located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Impairments from PCBs were listed on the 2002 303(d) list of impaired waterways as a result of a fish consumption advisory and an aquatic life closure issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services in 2002.

The DSHS determines risk associated with fish consumption. At the present time, there is a fish possession ban and fish consumption advisory issued by the DSHS for portions of the Trinity.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 26 from 1:00–3:00 p.m. at the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Centerpoint II (Tom Vandergriff Conference Center), Regional Forum Room, First Floor, 616 Six Flags Drive, Arlington, Texas.

The meeting will include a discussion of the TMDL process, history of PCB impairment in the area, sampling results and other pertinent project information.

The public is invited. The project overview, meeting information, previous meeting summaries, and project documents for this project may be found at: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/water/tmdl/77-trinity_pcbs.html