Community Gardens Manage Pollution in Dallas-Fort Worth Area
Texas Water Resources Institute is assessing the effectiveness of community garden practices to control nutrients in runoff in Dallas-Fort Worth area watersheds.
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Project Area
River Basin: Trinity
Water Bodies: Upper Trinity River (0805), Lewisville Lake-Hickory Creek Arm (0823), Lake Arlington (0828A, 0828), Joe Pool Lake (0838A, 0838C, 0838D, 0838E, 0838), Lake Lavon (0821A, 0821B, 0821C, 0821D, 0821)
Location: Counties of Denton, Collin, Dallas, Tarrant, Ellis, Hunt, Grayson, Fannin; Cities of Dallas, Denton, McKinney, Fort Worth, Arlington
Background
The presence of urban agriculture is growing quickly in many communities throughout Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and community gardens have become more popular. But they aren’t just green spaces where people come together to grow vegetables; they can also potentially reduce storm runoff and thus pollutants in our waterways. However, there has been little research to determine their potential benefit to water quality.
Several of the urban watersheds in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (Upper Trinity River, Joe Pool Lake, Lake Arlington, Lewisville Lake-Hickory Creek, and Lavon Lake) are listed in the 2020 Texas Integrated Report of Surface Water Quality because of high nutrient levels. These watersheds also have approved watershed protection plans or total maximum daily load implementation plans in place to help improve the water quality in those areas. But it’s important to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan’s strategies to reduce these contaminants.
Back to topProject Description
January 2023 – August 2026
The Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) will monitor existing community gardens in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to determine their effectiveness at reducing pollutants in area creeks and lakes. Three community gardens with various types of stormwater controls will be selected. One will have an established stormwater management system installed; one will have no such system but will have established practices for reducing sediment and nutrient runoff; and the final garden will have neither.
Runoff samples from the selected community gardens will be collected during storm events and tested for total suspended solids and nutrient levels. Samples will be analyzed over time to determine if amounts of pollutants are reduced in runoff from the community gardens with existing stormwater controls and practices.
Outreach events at many of the community gardens around the area will promote the project and include discussions about the results to water quality. The institute will create materials to disseminate results from the project, promote stormwater controls in community gardens, and help encourage proper irrigation and fertilizer practices.
For More Information
Texas Water Resources Institute
To find out more about the NPS Program, call 512-239-6682 or email us at nps@tceq.texas.gov.