Houston Ship Channel and Upper Galveston Bay: A TMDL Project for PCBs in Fish Tissue

Galveston Bay System from the Air Photograph courtesy of NASA

• Project Overview (PDF)
• Background and Goals
• Public Participation
• Project Reports
• For More Information

Background and Goals

Both dioxin and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are extremely persistent in the environment. In July 2008, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) issued consumption advisory ADV-35 for all catfish species and spotted sea trout in the Galveston Bay including Chocolate Bay, East Bay, West Bay, Trinity Bay, and contiguous waters. The consumption risk was due to dioxin and PCBs in fish tissue. The Houston Ship Channel portions of the area have also been under consumption advisories since 1990 because of dioxin in catfish and blue crabs. More information about consumption advisories is available on the DSHS web site. 

A TMDL determines the amount (or load) of a pollutant that a body of water can receive and still support its designated uses. The allowable load is then allocated among the sources of pollution in the watershed, and measures to reduce pollutant loads are developed as necessary.

Learn more about water quality standards and monitoring by reading Preserving and Improving Water Quality.

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Public Participation

The Houston-Galveston Area Council  is coordinating public participation activities for this project as well as two related projects for dioxin and PCBs in their area. A stakeholder group is working on all three of those projects.

The H-GAC is also coordinating participation, as needed, with the Texas Clean Rivers Program Steering Committee and the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for the San Jacinto River Basin and associated coastal basins.

See more about the HSC Dioxin Project and the Survey of Dioxin and PCBs in Galveston Bay.

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Project Reports

Documents are provided in PDF.

• Quality Assurance Project Plans
  • Modeling QAPP
  • Project QAPP (2009)
  • Project QAPP (2008)
  • Project QAPP (2007)
• Quarterly Project Reports from Contractor

1905 Map of Galveston Bay:

This 1905 map of Galveston Bay (9.9 MB) was originally produced by the Corps of Engineers. An old paper copy was scanned to produce digital images; that was the only known copy of this map. The file posted here was made by combining two overlapping partial images, merging to a single image, adjusting color to reduce yellowed effect of original, trimmed, and reduced to 4000 x 4000 pixel density to make a smaller but readable image. Larger format (6848 x 9584 pixels) files are available in TIF and JPG format, but require additional work to merge pieces or color correct the image. Contact the TCEQ TMDL program if the original files are desired.

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For More Information

Please e-mail us at tmdl@tceq.texas.gov, and reference the Galveston Bay System dioxin and PCBs project in the subject line. Or call Jim Neece at 512-239-1524.

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