1. Water Quality Management in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Arroyo Colorado Presented at the 17 th Annual LRGV Water Quality Management Conference South Padre Island, Texas Kim D. Jones/Joe Hinojosa May 20, 2015

2. 2 Environmental Engineer: What does it mean? An Environmental Engineer is a professional that applies Science and Engineering principles to improve our environment (air, water, and/or land resources), to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms.

3. Environmental Engineering According to Fortune magazine, one of the hottest career paths for the next ten years is expected to be in environmental engineering. The article, "Hot Careers for the Next 10 years" puts the growth rate of demand for environmental engineers (at 54%) even higher than that of information systems managers, software engineers, and systems analysts. 3

4. 4 Program Specializations Air Quality Water Quality Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Ecological Engineering Environmental Modeling and Informatics Environmental Biotechnology Geo-Environmental Systems

5. 5 Environmental Engineering Academic Programs B.S. Program The first and only B.S. Degree program in Environmental Engineering in South Texas started up in Spring 2009 M.S. Program Ph.D. Program – only engineering Ph.D. program in South Texas Summer Programs

6. Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment Promote sustainable water management and conservation, and the development and implementation of new technology Provide leadership and coordination in the development of issues concerning the quality of ground-level air quality Energy research at the Institute focuses on further developing and promoting the use of new sustainable energy sources in the South Texas region. Areas of study include citrus waste bio-refinery and solid waste bioreactors. 6

7. The Lower Rio Grande Valley 7

8. LRGV NPDES Task Force Background 8 17 Local governments comprise the Task Force, founded in 1998 Task Force and workgroups meet regularly A&M-K facilitates meetings and programs Interlocal agreements –Each member has one with A&M-K Celebrated 17 years of existence in 2015

9. LRGV TPDES Stormwater Task Force 9 Jose Hinojosa, Chairperson Santa Cruz Irrigation District #15 Joe Figueroa, Vice-Chair City of Brownsville David Salinas, Secretary/Reporter City of Weslaco Kim D. Jones, Ph.D., P.E., Principal Investigator A&M Kingsville Javier Guerrero, E.I.T., MS, Co-Principal Investigator A&M Kingsville

10. REPRESENTATIVES City of Brownsville – Jose FigueroaCity of La Feria – Paula Rodriguez City of Donna – Fernando Flores City of San Juan – Xavier Cervantes City of Alton – Jeff UnderwoodCity of Edinburg – Omar Cano City of San Benito – Jacinto HinojosaCameron County DD#1– Carlos Ayala City of Los Fresnos – Carlos SalazarCity of Weslaco – David Salinas City of Mission – Juan De La GarzaCity of La Joya – Isidro Venecia City of Palmview – Ramon Segovia City of Primera – Javier Mendez Cameron County – Ernesto Hinojosa, P.E. City of Alamo – Ernesto Solis Joe Hinojosa - Santa Cruz Irrigation District #15

11. SW Task Force Mission Develop and implement Stormwater Management Plans (SWMPs) –Regional plan (1 st regional watershed plan) –Coalesce plans with partners Cities developing Best Management Practices (BMPs) that are innovative –Low Impact Development (LID) –Beyond compliance theme Partner and work with Arroyo Colorado Watershed Partnership (ACWP) Provide education and training (Soil Erosion Pollution Awareness, SEPA, LID Programs, others) Assist with partners’ TPDES program 11

12. ARROYO COLORADO WATERSHED PARTNERSHIP Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan Clean Water Act 319 Funding Various Workgroups Meets Quarterly in Weslaco Going through and Update Avoids Total Maximum Daily Loading (TMDL) Mandates if successful 12

13. More Partners Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Partnership Cameron County Coastal Community Coalition UTPA Environmental Network TCEQ Non Point Source Team U.S. EPA Non Point Source CWA 319 program Frontera Audubon, Valley Proud, other NGOs Proposed National Estuary Plan for LL Madre 13