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The Sabine River Authority (SRA) 1998 Summary Report of water quality in the Sabine River Basin reported some water quality concerns identified by the SRA systematic sub-watershed screening program. Concerns for ambient toxicity; non-support of stream standards for dissolved oxygen and fecal coliform; and possible concern for orthophosphate. The design of this study was tailored to examine these specific concerns identified by historic sampling. The Rabbit Creek watershed has a numerous oil and gas leases and associated spills of oil and/or saltwater, but parameters of concern from historical sampling in Rabbit Creek don’t appear to be related to the oilfield activities. One set of samples was taken during normal flow conditions to help establish ambient conditions. A rainfall event sample was planned, but delayed due to logistics of long-term deployment of auto-samplers and the volume of water required for the different analyses desired. Manual sample collection was planned as an alternative to auto-samplers. Reduced funding forced a termination of this study before the rainfall event sampling could be completed. 

Sampling for benthic macroinvertebrates and fish was completed. Sampling collections were made twice, once during early summer and again during the late summer index period. Routine field and laboratory parameters, total and dissolved metals in water, and biomonitoring and rapid bio-assessment (RBA) were collected at all sites. David Hackley, City of Kilgore; Rickey Clements, East Texas Saltwater; and Adam Whisenant, TPWD, assisted during some benthic and fish collections.

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Prepared in Cooperation with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission Under the Authorization of the Texas Clean Rivers Act.