A5     PROBLEM DEFINITION/BACKGROUND

 

In 1991, the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Clean River Act (Senate Bill 818) in response to growing concerns that water resource issues were not being pursued in an integrated, systematic manner.  The act requires that ongoing water quality assessments be conducted for each river basin in Texas, an approach that integrates water quality issues within the watershed.  The CRP legislation mandates that “each river authority (or local governing entity) shall submit quality-assured data collected in the river basin to the commission.” “Quality-assured data” in the context of the legislation means “data that comply with commission rules for surface water quality monitoring programs, including rules governing the methods under which water samples are collected and analyzed and data from those samples are assessed and maintained.” This QAPP addresses the program developed between the SRA and the TCEQ to carry out the activities mandated by the legislation.  The QAPP was developed and will be implemented in accordance with provisions of the Quality Management Plan for the Clean Rivers Program (most recent version). 

 

The purpose of this QAPP is to clearly delineate SRA QA policy, management structure, and procedures which will be used to implement the QA requirements necessary to verify and validate the surface water quality data collected. The QAPP is reviewed by the TCEQ to help ensure that data generated for the purposes described above are scientifically valid and legally defensible.  This process will ensure that data collected under this QAPP and submitted to the statewide database have been collected and managed in a way that guarantees its reliability and therefore can be used in water quality assessments and other programs deemed appropriate by the TCEQ.  Project results will be used to support the achievement of Clean Rivers Program objectives as contained in the Clean Rivers Program Guidance and Reference Guide FY 2006 -2007.

 

The SRA Environmental Services Division (ESD) collects surface water quality data as part of its commitment to water quality protection in the Sabine Basin.  This Water Quality Monitoring Program (WQMP) includes routine monitoring and analyses of physical, chemical, bacteriological, and biological parameters.  SRA also conducts special investigations concerning pollution complaints.

 

The basin topography has been used to divide the Basin into 110 subwatersheds (24 of these are located in Louisiana), which are organized into 7 reaches.  A ‘reach’ of the main-stem of the River roughly corresponds to the old segment system but the reaches are based on hydrography and similarity of land features.  This system allows a manager to determine which areas have adequate water quality information and which areas do not.  The subwatershed approach also incorporates risk factors such as municipal and industrial outfalls, solid waste sites, urban and rural land use, etc., into the decision making process.

 

Water quality data is analyzed using the data analysis program developed by SRA following guidance from the TCEQ.  The Routine and Special Study Monitoring programs are reviewed each year to consider revisions in every aspect of the programs.

 

Monitoring plans were developed by the SRA and other monitoring partners in cooperation with TCEQ staff at the annual coordinated monitoring meetings.  The SRA will conduct 24-hour dissolved oxygen monitoring on Indian Creek upstream of the city of Winnsboro’s wastewater treatment discharge to determine dissolved oxygen criteria for permitting purposes.

 

Additional sampling will be conducted under this QAPP by City of Longview personnel to provide data from sites not covered by the SRA sampling program. 

 

 

A6     PROJECT/TASK DESCRIPTION

 

SRA will conduct monitoring at routine monitoring sites to adequately characterize water quality trends and monitor progress in protecting or restoring water in the Sabine Basin.  All monitoring plans are coordinated with the TCEQ regional offices to avoid duplication of effort.  The routine monitoring sites include 44 sampling sites that are monitored monthly for routine physical and chemical parameters.  Selected sites are also monitored annually for metals in water and metals in sediment.  Details of the monitoring schedule, parameters, and sampling locations are included in Appendix B.

Routine monitoring will be conducted by the City of Longview at two sampling sites on Lake Cherokee.

See Appendix A for the project-related work plan tasks and schedule of deliverables for a description of work defined in this QAPP.  

 

See Appendix B for sampling design and monitoring pertaining to this QAPP.

 

Amendments to the QAPP

 

Revisions to the QAPP may be necessary to address incorrectly documented information or to reflect changes in project organization, tasks, schedules, objectives, and methods. Requests for amendments will be directed from the SRA Project Manager to the CRP Project Manager electronically.  They are effective immediately upon approval by the SRA Project Manager, the SRA QAO, the CRP Project Manager, the CRP Lead QA Specialist, and the CRP Project QA Specialist.  They will be incorporated into the QAPP by way of attachment and distributed to personnel on the distribution list by the SRA Project Manager. 

 

Special Project Appendices

 

Projects requiring QAPP appendices will be planned in consultation with the SRA and the TCEQ Project Manager and TCEQ technical staff.  Appendices will be written in an abbreviated format and will reference the Basin QAPP where appropriate.  Appendices will be approved by the SRA Project Manager, the SRA QAO, the CRP Project Manager, the CRP Project QA Specialist, the CRP Lead QA Specialist and other TCEQ personnel as appropriate.  Copies of approved QAPP’s appendices will be distributed by the SRA to project participants before data collection activities commence.


A7     QUALITY OBJECTIVES AND CRITERIA

 

The purpose of routine water quality monitoring is to collect surface water quality data needed  for conducting water quality assessments in accordance with TCEQ’s Guidance for Assessing Texas Surface and Finished Drinking Water Quality Data.  These water quality data, and data collected by other organizations (e.g., USGS, TCEQ, etc.), will be subsequently reconciled for use and assessed by the TCEQ.

 

The purpose for data collected for Special Study monitoring will be addressed in Appendix E.

 

The measurement performance specifications to support the project objectives for a minimum data set are specified in Table A7.1 and in the text following.  The SRA laboratory will perform all of the analyses listed in Table A7.1.

Table A7.1 - Measurement Performance Specifications


PARAMETER

UNITS

MATRIX

METHOD

STORET

AWRL

Lab
Reporting
Limit (RL)

RECOVERY at RLs

PRECISION
(RPD of LCS/LCS dup)

BIAS
(%Rec. of LCS)

Lab

Field Parameters

pH

pH units

water

EPA 150.1 and TCEQ SOP

00400

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

DO

mg/L

water

EPA 360.1 and TCEQ SOP

00300

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Percent Saturation of DO

%

water

EPA 360.1 and TCEQ SOP

00301

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Conductivity

µS/cm

water

EPA 120.1 and TCEQ SOP

00094

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Salinity

ppt, marine only

water

SM 2520 and TCEQ SOP

00480

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

TDS, calculated

mg/L

water

calculation

70294

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Temperature

oC

water

EPA 170.1 and TCEQ SOP

00010

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Secchi Depth

meters

water

TCEQ SOP

00078

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Days since last significant rainfall

days

NA

TCEQ SOP

72053

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Water Color

1-brown
2-reddish
3-green
4-black
5-clear
6-other

water

Field Observation

89969

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Water Odor

1-sewage
2-oily/chemical
3-rottenegg
4-musky
5-fishy
6-none
7-other

water

Field Observation

89971

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Weather

1-clear
2-ptcloudy
3-cloudy
4- rain

NA

Field Observation

89966

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Wind Intensity

1-calm
2-slight
3-moderate
4-strong

Air

Field Observation

89965

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Wind Direction

1-North
2-South
3-East
4-West
5-Northeast
6-Southeast
7-Northwest
8-Southwest

Air

Field Observation

89010

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Total water depth

meters

water

TCEQ RWA SOP

82903

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Flow

cfs

water

TCEQ SOP

00061

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Flow measurement method

1-gage
2-electric
3-mechanical
4-weir/flume
5-doppler

water

TCEQ SOP

89835

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

Flow severity

1-no flow,
2-low,
3-normal,
4-flood,
5-high,
6-dry

water

TCEQ SOP

01351

NA*

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

24hrDO avg.

mg/L

water

EPA 360.1

89857

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

24hr DO min.

mg/L

water

EPA 360.1

89855

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

24hrDO max.

mg/L

water

EPA 360.1

89856

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

24hrDO num. meas.

--

water

TCEQ SOP/ Calculation

89858

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

24-hr avg. water temperature

oC

water

TCEQ SOP/ Calculation

00209

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

max daily water temperature

oC

water

TCEQ SOP/ Calculation

00210

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

min daily water temperature

oC

water

TCEQ SOP/ Calculation

00211

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

24hr temperature number measurements

--

water

TCEQ SOP/ Calculation

00221

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Field

24-hr avg. conductivity

µS/cm

water

TCEQ SOP/ Calculation

00212

NA