CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Community members came to hear from the Director of Water Quality for the Nueces River Authority.
At Del Mar College, Sam Sugarek presented his latest findings regarding water quality in the Nueces River basin.
"A lot of people have preconceived notions about how the water is around this area and a lot of times they don't have hard facts that go with this data," Sugarek said.
Over the years, Sugarek has collected thousands of water samples from Coastal Bend rivers, lakes, and bays.
"There's all kinds of water quality concerns and issues," Sugarek said.
One of the issues is the presence of bacteria from septic systems, wildlife, and in some cases wastewater plants. Sugarek said that as the area grows, more runoff is produced, which can become a problem.
"We have to watch what kind of pollutant is getting in our waterways. It's important to clean up your trash when you have trash clogging up the sewer lines. Pet waste can be an issue in some urban areas," Sugarek said.
Among those who wanted to know more was Jane Sarosdy. She helps connect people to state and federal funding for coastal restoration projects.
"It's easy for us, we turn on the faucet and the water comes out, but in order for that to happen, there's a process an a lot of that is natural," Sarosdy said. "And the natural processes need to be protected, we have climate change and development that threaten our fresh water we use that we need to live."
Sugarek said that monitoring takes place at predetermined stations for the Clean Rivers Program, which is funded by the TCEQ. There's even an online map that holds scientific information for residents to interact with.
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