SAN BERNARD RIVER WATERSHED DATA REPORT June 2020 Month Year Photo credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region The preparation of this report was prepared in cooperation with, and financed through, grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 1 | P a g e TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................ 3 LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................................. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Texas Stream Team ..................................................................................................................................... 5 WATERSHED DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................................. 6 Location and Climate .................................................................................................................................. 6 Physical Description .................................................................................................................................... 8 Land Use ...................................................................................................................................................... 8 History ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 Endangered Species and Conservation Needs ............................................................................................ 9 Watershed Protection Plans and Water Quality Management Plans......................................................... 9 Texas Water Quality Standards ................................................................................................................. 10 Water Quality Impairments ...................................................................................................................... 11 WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS..................................................................................................................... 11 Water Temperature .................................................................................................................................. 11 Specific Conductance and Salinity ............................................................................................................ 12 Dissolved Oxygen (DO) .............................................................................................................................. 12 pH .............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Secchi Disk and Total Depth ...................................................................................................................... 13 Enterococci Bacteria .................................................................................................................................. 13 Nitrate-Nitrogen........................................................................................................................................ 14 DATA COLLECTION, MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS ..................................................................................... 14 Data Collection .......................................................................................................................................... 14 Data Management .................................................................................................................................... 15 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 15 DATA RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................... 15 Watershed Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 17 Sampling Trends Over Time .................................................................................................................. 17 Air and Water Temperature .................................................................................................................. 17 2 | P a g e Specific Conductance and Salinity ........................................................................................................ 17 Dissolved Oxygen .................................................................................................................................. 19 pH .......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Secchi Disk ............................................................................................................................................. 19 E. coli Bacteria ....................................................................................................................................... 19 Nitrate-Nitrogen .................................................................................................................................... 19 Site Analysis .............................................................................................................................................. 19 Air and water Temperature .................................................................................................................. 19 Specific Conductance and Salinity ........................................................................................................ 20 Dissolved Oxygen .................................................................................................................................. 21 pH .......................................................................................................................................................... 21 Secchi Disk ............................................................................................................................................. 21 E. coli Bacteria ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Nitrate-Nitrogen .................................................................................................................................... 21 WATERSHED SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... 25 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................. 27 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality stream segments, stream type and descriptions within the San Bernard River watershed and the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. 7 Table 2. Water quality criteria for San Bernard River. .......................................................................... 11 Table 3. State and federally listed species in the San Bernard River watershed. ...Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 4. Texas Stream Team monitoring sites and number of samples reported at each site in the San Bernard River watershed and the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. Table 5. Descriptive statistics of Texas Stream Team data in the San Bernard River tidal May 2008 – April 2020. ............................................................................................................................................. 18 Table 6. Summary statistics for monitoring sites in the San Bernard River tidal and the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge May 2008 to April 2020. ............................................................................... 20 3 | P a g e LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. San Bernard River Watershed located along the Texas Gulf coast (H-GAC, 2017). ................. 6 Figure 2. Long-term (1972-2000) monthly average precipitation (cm) and temperature (°C) data from NOAA National Climate Data Center at Freeport 2 NW, Texas (COOP ID: 413340) (NOAA, 2020). ....... 7 Figure 3. 2006 National Land Cover Data for San Bernard River watershed (H-GAC, 2017). ................. 8 Figure 4. Texas Stream Team monitoring sites in the San Bernard River (tidal segment 1301) watershed and the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. .................................................................. 16 Figure 5. Cumulative number of flow severity observations in the San Bernard River tidal May 2008 to April 2020.......................................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 6. Air temperature (°C) for sites in the San Bernard River tidal May 2008 to April 2020. ......... 22 Figure 7. Water temperature (°C) in the San Bernard River tidal May 2008 to April 2020. ................. 22 Figure 8.