Lake Granbury Water Quality
Lake Granbury is a critical water supply in North Texas, providing water for more than 250,000 people in more than 15 cities. It is also the source of cooling water for a natural gas-fired steam electric power plant and the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant. In addition to municipal and industrial uses, the lake is a recreation haven for local water enthusiasts.
In recent years, golden algae and fecal coliform bacteria have threatened the lake’s water quality. Golden algae blooms have caused a number of fish kills in Lake Granbury, resulting in substantial economic and biological losses. In addition, recent studies by the Brazos River Authority (BRA) have detected contamination of fecal coliform bacteria in several areas of the lake, primarily in coves with poor water circulation.
BRA is working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and a consortium of local entities and federal and state agencies to develop and implement an integrated watershed protection plan designed to reduce bacterial contamination. TWRI currently administers two projects that aim to improve the water quality of Lake Granbury through providing quality educational programs and enhancing knowledge of golden algae blooms.
Objectives
Work with BRA, TCEQ and local stakeholders as they develop a watershed protection plan for Lake Granbury.
- Develop a water quality education program to help landowners, homeowners, businesses and municipalities reduce nonpoint sources of pollution
- Develop integrated GIS models of Lake Granbury and its watershed to help understand water quality problems and potentially identify sources of contamination
- Conduct bacterial source tracking (BST) to identify sources of bacterial contamination entering Lake Granbury
- Establish a detailed landuse analysis to aid in determining potential sources of bacterial contamination
- Continue to conduct water quality monitoring to evaluate the state of water in Lake Granbury and its watershed
- Develop and draft a watershed protection plan that addresses water quality issues in Lake Granbury and its watershed
Work with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Baylor University and the University of Texas at Arlington to investigate linkages between water conditions, nutrients, dissolved organic matter and blooms of golden algae.
- Conduct extensive water quality monitoring in Lake Granbury
- Develop high-resolution spatial maps of Lake Granbury
- Continue model development that will produce a 1-D spatially explicit, time-dependent numerical model focused on P. parvum demographics in Texas reservoirs
- Develop and verify effectiveness of management options to prevent or disrupt blooms of toxic golden algae
Accomplishments
- Developed a Web site highlighting activities/research being undertaken by Texas AgriLife Extension Service and Texas AgriLife Research as well as other research-based activities in the watershed
- Assisted BRA and TCEQ in organizing a stakeholder group for development of a watershed protection plan for the Lake Granbury Watershed
- Produced a series of water quality fact sheets about specific water quality issues in the region, namely, nutrient and sediment loadings, bacteria, urban and agricultural nonpoint sources and landscape chemicals
Collaborators
- Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A&M AgriLife
- Texas AgriLife Research
- Texas AgriLife Extension Service
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
- Brazos River Authority
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- Baylor University
- University of Texas at Arlington
- Hood County, Texas
Funding Agencies
- U.S. Department of Energy
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
