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

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THE ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED Table 4. Median Household Income for Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy Counties, 1989 and 1999 (Source: U.S. Census Bureau) County Median Median Name Household Household Income 1989 Income 1999 Cameron $17,336 $26,155 Hidalgo $16,703 $24,863 Willacy $14,590 $22,114 TEXAS $27,016 $39,927 Mexico border. There is much evidence that the lack of sanitary sewage, storm water drainage and solid waste disposal facilities in colonias signifi cantly contributes to water quality problems in the Arroyo Colorado. History of Human Activity Early records tell of prosperous and often friendly Native American people living in South Texas and northeastern Mexico. This area was known as the Coahuiltecan region, where more than a hundred small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers lived much like the pre-horse, buffalo-hunting Native Americans of the southern Plains (Moore, 2006). The Coahuiltecans lived during a time period known as the “Little Ice Age” During this period, South Texas was cooler and wetter and the climate and environment in those times provided plenty of food resources. Water and wild grasses were abundant, and buffalo and other game animals were numerous. Around the end of the 1700s, the climate began to change, slowly getting hotter and dryer, and by the end of the 1800s, South Texas became the semi-arid region it is today. The Coahuiltecan culture changed signifi cantly after coming into contact with European settlers. The Spanish arrived in the area in the mid-1700s and started missions and settlements. Attracted by the steady source of food, water and protection from stronger tribes, many of the Coahuiltecan bands moved into the Spanish missions. Once in the missions, many of the Coahuiltecan women married Spanish soldiers and settlers. By the end of the 1800s, the native Coahuiltecans had disappeared, largely through assimilation. However, the native Coahuiltecans left descendants who still live in South Texas. Spanish settlements were fi rst established along the lower Rio Grande by José de Escandón beginning in 1749 (Best 2004). These early settlers brought with them grazing animals, including cattle, horses, mules and sheep, to feed mostly in the pastures north of the Rio Grande. In 1757, the total population of these animals outnumbered the human population in the early settlements by almost 50 to 1. Historical accounts from the 1800s of the habitats in South Texas include descriptions of a riparian forest belt from 5 to 30 miles wide on the United States side of the Rio Grande (Best 2004). Water supply and fl ood control projects began on the Rio Grande in the 1920s to create reservoirs and fl oodways. The Lower Rio Grande Valley Flood Control Project was agreed upon between the United States and Mexico in 1932. The project was completed in 1947 and made irrigation waters available for agriculture on a large scale. Today, the Arroyo Colorado watershed contains approximately 290,000 acres of irrigated cropland. The principal agricultural crops in the watershed include cotton, corn, grain sorghum, sugar cane, citrus and a variety of vegetables (TAES 2000). In addition to the benefi ts afforded to local agriculture, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Flood Control Project conferred to the local population protection from catastrophic fl ooding associated with the Rio Grande. The project resulted in the construction of a fl oodway system stretching across Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy counties. In order to ensure effi cient conveyance, the Encampment of Coahuiltecan Indians as depicted by artist Frank Weir < http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/ images/he6.html> Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan 28 January 2007
THE ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED Arroyo Colorado was modifi ed extensively to serve as the pilot channel for the Main and Arroyo Colorado fl oodways; this included channelization and, in some sections also, the repositioning of the channel within the fl oodway. The land within the fl oodways themselves was cleared of buildings, trees and brush to reduce roughness during fl ood fl ows. To this day, the IBWC ensures that land use within the fl oodways does not diminish the ability to convey fl oodwater. This includes restricting vegetation growth and development inside the fl oodway. Unfortunately, this prevents the Arroyo Colorado from having a healthy riparian environment and contributes to the severe bank erosion observed over much of its course. In 1933, the IBWC implemented Federal Project #5, which involved cutting fi ve channels and straightening the Arroyo Colorado from Harlingen to its outlet at the Laguna Madre. The channel construction and straightening projects cut off some of the bends in the original stream channel and modifi ed the bed and banks of the tidal portion of the stream. Prior to the construction of dams on the main channel of the river, the Rio Grande overfl owed its banks annually, depositing new sediments and moving fresh water into a variety of abandoned river segments and meander channels that became cut off from the main fl ow of the river. These old abandoned channels of the Rio Grande are known collectively as resacas. The Arroyo Colorado can be considered a special type of resaca that once fl owed naturally into the Laguna Madre. Resacas are found scattered throughout the Rio Grande Valley, where they form isolated freshwater reservoirs and wetlands. Map of the Arroyo Colorado 1847 Resacas Resacas (Oxbow Lakes) (Oxbow Lakes) Large-scale irrigation and fl ood control projects in the Rio Grande Valley, including levee construction, eliminated fl oodwaters as a source of fl ow to the inland and coastal wetlands and reservoirs that now depend on rainfall and groundwater recharge as the sole natural source of fresh water infl ow. Currently there are 270 miles of levees associated with the Lower Rio Grande Valley Flood Control Project; 102 miles of levees are Rio Grande levees and 168 miles of levees make up the interior fl oodway system that includes the two large segments of the Arroyo Colorado (i.e., Main and Arroyo Colorado fl oodways), a major tributary (Banker Floodway) and a distributary branch of the Arroyo Colorado (North Floodway). Today, fl oodwater overfl ows from the Rio Grande into the Arroyo Colorado and local resacas are rare. The next major alteration to the Arroyo Colorado began in 1945 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was authorized to excavate the Laguna Madre section of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). The GIWW provides shallow-draft navigation between the Rio Grande Valley and interconnecting waterways along the Gulf Coast to Florida. The GWWI was opened to navigation in 1951. The Arroyo Colorado Navigation District of Cameron and Willacy counties granted a perpetual easement in 1947 to the USACE to use specifi c placement areas for the dredged material from the GIWW and the Tributary Channel to January 2007 29 Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan
Page 2 and 3: Photos courtesy of Brand Cowan, Cam
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS - FIGURES Habitat Restorat
Page 9: TABLES LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Tabl
Page 13 and 14: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Arroyo Colora
Page 15 and 16: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Habitat Approxima
Page 17 and 18: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY management practi
Page 19 and 20: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Elements of the W
Page 22 and 23: INTRODUCTION In its most pristine c
Page 24 and 25: INTRODUCTION Colorado, where physic
Page 27 and 28: THE ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED PARTN
Page 34 and 35: THE ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED The A
Page 36 and 37: THE ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED the D
Page 38 and 39: THE ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED Figur
Page 42 and 43: THE ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED Resac
Page 45 and 46: STATE OF THE WATERSHED From a natur
Page 47 and 48: STATE OF THE WATERSHED resacas loca
Page 49 and 50: STATE OF THE WATERSHED Water Qualit
Page 51 and 52: STATE OF THE WATERSHED Table 8. Des
Page 53 and 54: STATE OF THE WATERSHED Figure 12. L
Page 55 and 56: STATE OF THE WATERSHED Figure 14. 1
Page 57 and 58: STATE OF THE WATERSHED Figure 18. T
Page 59 and 60: STATE OF THE WATERSHED Figure 20. T
Page 61 and 62: STATE OF THE WATERSHED facilities a
Page 63 and 64: STATE OF THE WATERSHED controlled.
Page 65 and 66: STATE OF THE WATERSHED Tree plantin
Page 67 and 68: XXX Arroyo Colorado Watershed Prote
Page 69 and 70: POLLUTION IN THE ARROYO COLORADO
Page 71 and 72: POLLUTION IN THE ARROYO COLORADO 1)
Page 73 and 74: POLLUTION IN THE ARROYO COLORADO St
Page 76 and 77: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK Successful
Page 78 and 79: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK the water r
Page 80 and 81: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK managing pr
Page 82 and 83: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK criteria fo
Page 84 and 85: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK pertaining
Page 87 and 88: ELEMENTS OF THE ARROYO COLORADO WAT
Page 89 and 90: ELEMENTS OF THE ARROYO COLORADO WAT
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ELEMENTS OF THE ARROYO COLORADO WAT
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Fostering lo
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH • Distribu
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH quality prob
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH • Develop
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH take to do t
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH industry, de
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH To support m
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH members of t
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ESTIMATED WATERSHED LOADINGS AND LO
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WATER QUALITY MONITORING PLAN Figur
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WATER QUALITY MONITORING PLAN Figur
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WATER QUALITY MONITORING PLAN Autom
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TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
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SOURCES OF TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL
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IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE Federal CWA
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IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE Table 24. T
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IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE TMDL Monito
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MEASURING PROGRESS The ultimate mea
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MEASURING PROGRESS Table 25. Criter
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MEASURING PROGRESS Table 27. Milest
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APPENDICES HUC HWWS IBWC IMAS km LL
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APPENDICES APPENDIX B Arroyo Colora
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APPENDICES arise necessitating the
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APPENDICES c. Committee Members: Co
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APPENDICES APPENDIX C Arroyo Colora
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APPENDICES FRANK MARTINEZ IBWC JAME
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APPENDICES WESLEY ROSENTHAL TAMU JE
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APPENDICES APPENDIX E Rare Plants a
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APPENDICES Common Name Scientific N
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APPENDICES APPENDIX F Locally Activ
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APPENDICES Gorgas Science Foundatio
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APPENDICES Endangered Species Act T
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APPENDICES APPENDIX H List of Feder
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APPENDICES Common Name Scientific N
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APPENDICES APPENDIX I Selected Mars
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APPENDICES Mid-Depths - 15 to 50 cm
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REFERENCES Arnold, J.G., P.M. Allen
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REFERENCES IBWC, 2003. Hydraulic Mo
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REFERENCES TAES (Texas Agricultural
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REFERENCES USEPA, 1999. Draft Guida
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