City of Austin - Water Quality :: Education

Fast Facts
Population	2000: 23,372 2030: 35,728
Creek Length	8 miles
Drainage Area	6 square miles
Drains To	Colorado River below Town Lake
Well Known Sites	Oakwood Cemetery, Zaragoza Park, Johnston High School, Garza High School, Kealing Middle School
Land Use	Residential Business Civic Parks Roadways Undeveloped	34% 15% 7% 4% 26% 14%

Watershed Facts

Several miles of Boggy Creek have been channelized with cement, changing the character of the creek from narrow and winding to wide, straight and shallow.
Areas that have not been channelized have extremely eroded banks with debris and trash in the creek channels.
In response to citizen complains, City investigators find an average of 78 pollution problems each year in Boggy Creek. Sewage is the most common problem, followed by petroleum and then trash.
In 1994, residents in the Boggy Creek watershed won a major environmental victory, shutting down polluting tank farms in their neighborhoods.
A major project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided 100-year floodplain protection to 1700 homes in 1984
Fecal coliform levels were above the recreational state limit in 2000
Restoring Boggy Creek

Creek Assessments
Environmental

Index	Score	Category	Notes
Overall Score	58	Fair	Boggy ranks 31 out of 46 watersheds in overall quality
Water Chemistry	57	Fair	Water quality is average
Sediment Quality	88	Excellent	PAHs are very low, herbicides/pesticides are very low, metals are very low
Recreation	63	Good	During dry weather conditions, bacteria is usually not a threat
Aesthetics	63	Good	Lots of litter present, slight offensive odors, algae covers 10-20% of creek, some of the creek bed is dry
Habitat	49	Marginal	Increased sediment deposition, cover is insufficient, major channel alteration, buffer zone is small
Aquatic Life	30	Poor	Benthic macroinvertebrate community is poor; diatom community is poor

Aquatic life impacted by habitat loss from channel alteration, erosion and sedimentation.
Austin Clean Water Program is working on rehabilitation of wastewater lines that may be the cause of periodically elevated bacteria.
Channel modifications may have resulted in impacts downstream of U.S. 183.
Erosion downstream of extensive channelization reducing bank stability and causing sedimentation.

Environmental scores are based on a full range of chemical, biological, and physical assessments.


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