West Lake Houston Basin Implementation Project

Project Overview

The Houston-Galveston Area Council and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are working with stakeholders in the West Lake Houston basin area to implement strategies to protect human health by addressing water quality pollution. This project will make recreation safer, improve the environment, and raise awareness about the connection between waterways and the communities they support.

The West Lake Houston basin area is comprised of watersheds for Lake Creek, West Fork San Jacinto River, Spring Creek, and Cypress Creek. The total drainage area covers approximately 1,250 square miles of Harris, Waller, Montgomery, and Grimes counties. Lake Creek, Spring Creek, and Cypress Creek each form a confluence with the West Fork of The San Jacinto River which drains into Lake Houston—an important source of drinking water for the region. Smaller cities such as Cut and Shoot, Magnolia, Oak Ridge North, Panorama Village, Pinehurst, Prairie View, Porter Heights, Shenandoah, Stagecoach, Waller, Willis, and Woodloch intersect or are completely contained within the basin area. Larger cities that intersect or are contained within the basin area include Conroe, Houston, Humble, Spring, The Woodlands Township, and Tomball.

Assessments of surface water quality in the West Lake Houston basin indicate elevated levels of fecal indicator bacteria, depressed dissolved oxygen, high concentrations of nutrients, and occasional issues with poor quality fish and macrobenthic communities and habitat. Other issues identified by stakeholders include sediment loading (from development), changes in flow velocity and volume, illegal dumping, trash, and bank erosion.

Watershed Protection Plans (WPPs) have been developed for the watersheds of Lake Creek, West Fork San Jacinto River, Spring Creek, and Cypress Creek to address these issues. The goal of the West Lake Houston Implementation Project is to actively implement elements of these WPPs to address pollutant sources through coordinated voluntary measures. These activities will move the component watersheds toward achieving and maintaining compliance with applicable water quality standards and address other stakeholder concerns.

Funding for this implementation project is provided through a federal Clean Water Act §319(h) grant to the Houston-Galveston Area Council, administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.