John Wedig: You are very welcome! I'm extremely happy to be here. I'm looking forward to a great chat with the science students from across the state of Texas.

John Wedig: LCRA is both a conservation and reclamation district. We provide flood control and we also generate electricity. The Lower Colorado River district extends from the lower ten counties, from San Saba to Matagorda on the coast.

John Wedig: Yes, we do. The LCRA also enforces a non-point source ordinance around the Highland Lakes. This encourages businesses to control their runoff from their sites, specifically during the construction phase, but we also work with the businesses to implement BMT's (best management practices) to help control the storm water runoff.

John Wedig: Ooh, that's a very good question! Now you have jumped from the water quality arena into the water quantity. And, from my perspective, the quantity is going to be becoming more and more important. The value of water is going to increase until it mimics that of what we are paying for oil now. Water is a precious commodity in Texas. There is a planning process in place; it's referred to as SB1 - Senate Bill 1 - which allows for everyone within a water basin or river basin to plan for water needs. And so, that's exactly what we are getting ready to restart, the second round of that planning stage, so that everyone's needs are accounted for, but also to ensure that there is enough water to protect the fish and aquatic communities along the Colorado River and Matagorda Bay.

John Wedig: I am going to interpret this question to mean at what point does the growth around a watershed start impacting water quality of the river. The way we do it, is that we monitor both water quality, which is the chemical aspect, but also monitor the biological aspect: the aquatic insects and the fish community. It's from our monitoring that we then determine if indeed the river is experiencing a negative impact. From experience, it is NPS (non-point source pollution) that tends to have the largest impact on our rivers and lakes.

John Wedig: For chemical monitoring, which is sampling the water column, we sample seventy plus locations every other month. For our biological monitoring, we sample about two dozen locations four times a year. That's to include seasonal changes. And also, of those four, one is always in the most stressful time of the year, which is August. That's usually when the water temperatures are the highest and dissolved oxygen levels are the lowest.

John Wedig: Yes, there is. It is the International Boundary Water Commission. My experience with them has only been in the lower Rio Grande, near Brownsville and McAllen. The TNRCC (Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission) is the state agency responsible for ensuring water quality along the Rio Grande. You can check their website for information about the health of the Rio Grande river.

John Wedig: I guess the only entity that I'm aware of that regulates recreational activities on the statewide basis would be Texas Parks and Wildlife. They insure safe boating, and also have enforcement capabilities through their game wardens. Other local entities may be able to enforce local ordinances. I know here in Austin, they prohibit jet skis on Lake Austin during the three summer holiday weekends.

John Wedig: You guys are up on your questions! This is a very prevalent issue. Driving of four- wheel vehicles in the partially dry streambeds, small creeks and tributaries is an issue because folks -- after seeing the commercials showing these four-wheel vehicles plowing through the water -- want to go out and do that themselves. So, the question has been posed, what is the impact of this kind of activity on the aquatic community? It is one that will be studied by different resource entities or agencies in the upcoming years. My best guess at this time is that it does have an impact, but that it's probably of a short duration. The aquatic community can rebound quite rapidly.

John Wedig: Extremely important oftentimes, and I was one of those going through school as a science geek, when it's the facts and the right answer that are all that's important. But unless you can communicate that to other people, often in the form of writing, it doesn't do that much good to have the correct answers. That's one of the largest hurdles that I have had to overcome in my professional career -- improving my writing skills. I've been fortunate in that there have been folks in our Corporate Communications Department that have acted as mentors, and have helped me to improve my writing. So, even though you are interested in science now, still pay attention to that English teacher, pay attention in class! That will be important in the future.

John Wedig: The simple answer: the lack of rain. The more complex one is that it's just the natural cycle from our location in the world. What we are finding is that the weather, the water temperature of the Pacific Ocean, has an almost direct impact on our weather patterns from year to year, with El Nino and La Nina impacting our precipitation in the Southwest part of the United States. Droughts have been a part of our weather pattern in Texas forever. From a water planning process, that is what we plan for. We refer to the droughts of record. Currently the drought of record occurred during the 1950's, when we went for seven straight years without any appreciable rainfall. So that type of a drought, if that type repeats itself, that's what we try to plan for in the water planning process to ensure that all water uses can continue even during that drought. The flip side, the benefit of a drought, is that most water pollution is now thought to occur through non-point source pollution, so when it rains it then flows into our rivers and streams. During a drought, we just don't have to worry about NPS pollution; we don't have any rainfall, so we don't have runoff to bring pollutants into our waterways. So that would be the "silver lining" during a time of drought.

John Wedig: My eighth grade science teacher was a very hands-on teacher, and encouraged us to do outside studies and experiments. So I guess it was that love of nature and ecology which determined my path. I graduated high school in the late 70's, just when the original "Jaws" was hitting the screens. I wanted to be Matt Hooper, chasing sharks. Reality was, there were not many shark-chasing jobs available, so I ended up at Southwest Texas State University studying aquatic biology as opposed to marine biology. The jump to LCRA occurred with the help of an old college roommate who was working in LCRA's environmental laboratory.

John Wedig: Since I grew up on the Texas coast, fishing in the bays is my most favorite location, specifically, Matagorda and Lavaca Bay. Living in Austin, freshwater spots are more common. The time of the year kind of determines where the fish are biting. This time of the year, fall and entering winter, the power plant lakes are a good spot -- specifically Lake Bastrop and Fayette, and Decker Lakes are nearby power plant lakes. The reason they are good during this time of the year is that the water is much warmer. I fish for large mouth bass, it's the "fish of choice." Springtime any of our flowing streams -- specifically the Perdinalis River and the Llano Rivers -- are great places for white bass.

John Wedig: I'm an aquatic biologist, rather than a hydrologist. That kind of couches that this is not an expert opinion, but my personal opinion is that there is plenty of water to go around, even though it is a limited resource. What we will have to do in the future is ensure that our population centers develop where there is a plentiful water supply. Specifically, not trying to grow fields of green grass in the desert.

John Wedig: To test the water for chemical pollutants, we commonly test for approximately 26 different pollutants every time we collect a water sample. We also support a volunteer monitoring organization, the Colorado River Watch Network. These schools and individuals are able to test the water for six different pollutants, including nutrients and bacteria. So that's what we monitor for. The follow up to that is, what do you do when you find out that it is polluted? You usually try to track back to the source of the pollution. And if you are fortunate enough to determine the cause, then you work with that individual or business in order to clean up that pollution incident. More commonly, however, the source of the pollution is NPS, non-point source, and just that name helps to describe that it's no longer a point of pollution but a wide area contributing to the pollution that you've detected in your water. A common example is over fertilization of lawns and gardens. Too much fertilizer on the ground is carried into our rivers and streams following a rainfall event. We'll pick up the elevated nitrogen and phosphorous levels with our sampling. These nutrients in term can promote the excessive growth of aquatic vegetation.

John Wedig: I'm not aware of any organized groups, but on an individual basis probably the best way to conserve water is through limiting lawn watering. Lawn watering and landscape watering is probably the largest waste of water. So, working with your parents to ensure that you don't over water lawns, you promote xerioscaping, which is promoting plants that use less water, more drought-tolerant plants, and this will help to conserve water resources. That is probably more efficient than not brushing your teeth, and it saves a large amount of water!

John Wedig: I would like to think that Texas ranks in the upper quarter among the states. I think the Western states are probably a little more water conscious than states that receive abundant rainfall and therefore have abundant water supplies. Our limited water resources, we tend to take extra measures to ensure that we have acceptable quality.

John Wedig: No. Use grasses that are not as water dependent. Also, you can change the watering cycle. Watering the lawn every five days has been proven to be sufficient. So there is no need to water it every other day. Time of the day is important also, so water early in the morning; that will cut down on the evaporation, and therefore the amount of water you use. There are also varieties of grass, such as Bermuda and Buffalo grasses, which require less water than the common St. Augustine grass.

John Wedig: I consider waterways to be extremely important -- I consider myself fortunate to have a career protecting these waterways. It's not so much neglect, as what man's impact on the surrounding land use. Neglect in a pristine environment is probably a good thing, and that's why we have nature preserves. They actually have a parcel of land in which they allow no changes to the landscape. That's beneficial for water quality. The other extreme, however, is a watershed that has been abused by man, or man's activities. Neglecting that could lead to increases in water pollution. A lot depends on what man's impact is on the surrounding landscape.

John Wedig: We have found that one of the best strategies for educating the public is through the kids. A lot of times our educational processes are aimed at elementary and junior high school aged kids, who then take the message home to mom and dad. I guess, kind of the phrase is "while you can't teach an old dog new tricks, it's much easier teaching the puppies." Recycling is a great example. When I was growing up there wasn't much in the way of recycling, definitely not much in the way of curbside recycling. But educational campaigns aimed at schools, the kids took this home to mom and dad, so recycling is now a common practice in every household in the U.S. Also, attend numerous outdoor festivals, in which we pass out literature on water quality and the environment. That's another way in which we try to educate those folks that usually have the same interests in protecting the environment that LCRA does.

John Wedig: It is probably the oceans that are in great jeopardy of becoming polluted. The rivers and streams act as the conduit and move pollution from the source to an end point, but that end point is always the ocean. So years of abuse and the cumulative effects of all the pollution generated by man finds its ending place in the ocean. The cumulative effects are felt most severely in the oceans and bays. There seems to be some evidence that this neglect and pollution is impacting the fisheries in the ocean. Specifically, one called a menhaden; it's a shad-like fish. Scientists on the east coast have noticed a dramatic decline in the numbers of menhaden, and they are worried, because these fish act as the base of the food chain, with other fish feeding off the menhaden. So as the population of menhaden declines, so does the population of our other sport fish, such as bluefish, trout, and redfish.

John Wedig: This is the billion-dollar question, since that's the estimated cost of the plan for the LCRA to sell water to the city of San Antonio. The LCRA is undertaking a seven-year study to ensure that the environment, and specifically the bay, is not going to be harmed by selling this water to San Antonio. The plan calls for LCRA to sell a hundred and fifty thousand acre feet of water to San Antonio each year. However, if these studies determine that selling this water has a negative impact on the Colorado River or Matagorda Bay, the water deal will not occur. So we intend to look at the salinity regime, and also the biological productivity within Matagorda Bay, and determine what the impact of having a hundred fifty thousand acre feet less water will be in the Bay.

John Wedig: Let's start with the flip side. A stream or river absent of algae is definitely a bad thing. That indicates that some type of pollution is preventing or killing the algae. The other extreme is also bad, when you are over laden or overburdened with algae, it indicates you have an excess amount of nutrients, usually in the form of nitrogen and/or phosphorous. In our experience, we usually encounter this type of situation downstream from wastewater treatment facilities. The treating of wastewater entails converting fecal waste into a water phase (removing the solids.) The water is now becoming over-enriched with nutrients. Without tertiary treatment, these nutrients now enter the waterway. They can be responsible for the excessive growth of algae and other aquatic vegetation.

John Wedig: That's kind of what the earlier question answered, that seven year study period is what is going to determine if indeed that floodwater capture project is viable or feasible, both environmentally and economically. The way the plan is envisioned is that during periods of high flow, the excess water would be captured in the off-channel reservoirs. This is then the water that will be 1) sold to San Antonio, 2) sent downstream later for rice irrigators, or 3) into the bays and estuaries during a time of drought.

John Wedig: San Antonio is currently dependent on the Edwards Aquifer. They are just now starting to look into the use of surface water. Here in the Lower Colorado River area, that's all you drink -- surface water. In San Antonio, they only drink water from the aquifer, or groundwater. Eventually San Antonio is going to consume more water than can be captured by the aquifer, so they are looking into different options. One is purchasing water from the Lower Colorado River, but they are also looking into reusing wastewater for irrigation. It is common to irrigate golf courses with treated wastewater effluent. They are also looking into purchasing water from the Guadalupe River Authority, and they are also looking into a desalination plant on the coast.

John Wedig: Best way to do it is to always keep in mind that what you put on the ground ends up in your river or lake. So, just be conscious of overfertilization, be conscious of the pesticides and herbicides you use,

John Wedig: I would look at which one receives the least amount of rainfall annually, which I would think would be Arizona, or Montana, one of the western states, and they probably have the best conservation record. I would say California, but because of the water deals in which they are stealing water from that other Colorado River, helps to ensure their water,

John Wedig: I have thoroughly enjoyed this past hour. I hope that it has been enlightening and useful to all the participants. This kind of hits home to me, the junior high school time frame was when I was trying to decide on a life or a career or a job, and I decided that working in the environment was what I would enjoy the most, so if today has been an enjoyable experience I hope that some of these kids might consider a career in protecting our natural resources. I'd also like to give a plug to the LCRA web page; you guys can surf and find more information about environmental projects and programs and that's www.lcra.org. We also have a relatively new website for our water quality efforts, waterquality.lcra.org, and that's a new website that we just launched last month that has a mapping tool associated with our water quality data. Thanks for coming!