Lavon Lake: Implementing a Watershed Protection Plan
North Texas Municipal Water District will implement the Lavon Lake Watershed Protection Plan by incorporating some green infrastructure elements into new and existing development to reduce stormwater and pollutants entering the watershed.
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Project Area
River Basin:Trinity
Water Body:Lavon Lake (0821), Pilot Grove Creek (0821A), Sister Grove Creek (0821B), Wilson Creek (0821C), and East Fork of the Trinity River (0821D)
Location:Cities of Wiley and McKinney
Background
Lavon Lake is the primary source of water for the North Texas Municipal Water District which serves 90 communities and 1.6 million residents. Lavon Lake has not had any water quality concerns since 2016, but several of its tributaries have. Two of the larger tributaries—Wilson Creek and the East Fork Trinity River—have not met all water quality standards since 2010, because bacteria concentrations exceed the criteria for primary contact recreation use. Sister Grove Creek has concerns for elevated bacteria and low dissolved oxygen, and Pilot Creek has a concern for elevated bacteria.
In 2016, the Water District, the Lavon Lake Watershed Partnership, and stakeholders developed the Lavon Lake Watershed Protection Plan to address these concerns. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accepted that plan in December 2017. The plan identified urban runoff as a major source of bacteria pollution.
Back to topProject Description
September 2019 – August 2024
The Water District will implement some green infrastructure elements described in the plan. Green infrastructure incorporates stormwater controls into new and existing development to reduce the amount of stormwater and pollutants entering the watershed. Water District actions to promote and support the use of these practices include:
- Provide technical resources specific to the watershed.
- Host workshops and tours in the watershed.
- Promote ways to review the practices and design criteria to support them.
- Encourage the adoption of local ordinances that promote them.
- Employ some of the best practices at the Wylie headquarters and then calculate pollutant load reductions from each installation using rainfall data, pollutant concentration, and effectiveness data from prior projects and published literature.
For More Information
To find out more about the NPS Program, call 512-239-6682 or email us at nps@tceq.texas.gov.