Watershed Protection Plan - Lower Rio Grande Valley Development ...

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
To support monitoring efforts, Texas Watch will
maintain a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)
to cover all Texas Watch water quality monitoring
activities. The QAPP will include all Texas Watch
volunteer monitoring parameters and sampling
protocols and will serve as the project’s statewide
quality assurance plan. The data collected under the
QAPP will be used to support education and research,
problem identifi cation, local decision making and
planning. Any data collected under the QAPP will be
included on the Texas Watch Data Viewer .
Strategy 8 – Collaborate with Government
Agencies Offering Environmental E&O
Several federal, state and local government agencies
provide public E&O on diverse environmental subjects,
including litter control, urban pesticide and fertilizer
use, water conservation, management of pet waste,
waste disposal into storm drains and general nonpoint
source pollution control. The agencies providing this
information often benefi t from the assistance of local
stewardship organizations like the ACW Partnership by
gaining the ability to target E&O efforts more effectively.
In turn, the ACW Partnership gains resources for
targeted E&O efforts.
Collaborative E&O efforts between government
agencies and the ACW Partnership are already at
work in the Arroyo Colorado watershed. Texas Watch,
the Texas TMDL Outreach Project, Clean Texas
Greenscapes and TPWD’s Wildlife Expos provide good
examples of state government agency initiatives that
have been customized for local implementation as a
result of collaborative efforts with the ACW Partnership.
Agricultural E&O Event
Texas TMDL Outreach Project
The Texas TMDL Outreach Project is an initiative
of the Small Business and Environmental Assistance
Division of the TCEQ. The goal of the project is to
reduce the discharge of landscaping chemicals into
streams, lakes and aquifers in major metropolitan areas
of the state by changing citizen behavior through a
public E&O campaign. The fi rst phase of the project
targets six TMDL areas state-wide, one of which is
the Rio Grande Valley. The project leverages the
resources of state and local programs that promote
mulching, composting, xeriscaping and integrated
pest management, all of which reduce the need for
landscaping chemicals and reduce urban runoff.
Tour of Estero Llano Grande Wetland System
The project utilizes the E&O strategies of the Grow
Green Program, a partnership between the City of
Austin’s Watershed Protection and Development
Review Department and the TCE. Grow Green has
been recognized by the TCEQ as an exemplary
program and has been endorsed by the Texas Nursery
and Landscape Association as a model for government
and business partnerships. Through point-of-purchase
fact sheets that will be available in target areas,
including the Arroyo Colorado watershed, Grow Green
will provide information on less problematic alternatives
to common lawn chemicals. Sixty percent of Grow
Green retail partners have seen an increase in the sale
of organic fertilizer and least-toxic pesticides as a result
of the program.
TCEQ established a partnership with Keep Texas
Beautiful, a statewide non-profi t organization, to host a
program website that provides the following:
• comprehensive information on environmentally
responsible landscape management practices
Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan 102 January 2007