Comm Environment Issue

Community Environmental Issues

Community Environmental Issues

An environmental issue I chose in the state of Texas is the Bacteriological Contamination of water and fish. This means that our water and fish and been contaminated by disease causing pathogens, which affect swimming, wading and fishing in our rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs. The cause of this issue is due to the failed septic tanks, collection systems that fail, the animal waste system and urban runoffs. This is an environmental sustainability issue because when the water and the fish are contaminated with bacteria then the water is harmful to all living organisms which includes the marine life. The results of water being contaminated starts with water and then the marine life who live in said water become contaminated and then the animals and humans who eat the marine life would get sick. Once the fish are contaminated the fishermen would be out of a job because there would be nothing viable to catch and sell. If the water is contaminated and bacteria seeps into our drinking water the population would fall ill and our water would have to be taken from out of state until Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) could fix the problem. This would only happen if a contamination was not caught, but TCEQ has steps and regulations in place to prevent such a happening.

Without an agency like TCEQ, this bacterium in the waterways will affect the population, industries, workers, kids and schools. The Texas Clean Rivers Program which is a partnership between the TCEQ and regional water authorities to coordinate and conduct water quality monitoring, assessment, and stakeholder participation to improve the quality of surface water within each river basin in Texas. TCEQ investigates all problems with pollution of all waterways in Texas with prevention, abatement and control; to establish such standards of quality for any waters in the state in relation to their reasonable and necessary use...