(continued from front) Opportunities for Watershed Protection Twenty‐eight comments received at NCTCOG’s 2010 Lake Bridgeport watershed meeting identified opportunities for protecting watersheds of water supply reservoirs. These Meeting attendees opportunities were organized by NCTCOG’s goal of connecting people, places, and programs to watershed protection. Most of the comments indicated that connecting programs (43%) and connecting people (39%) were the greatest opportunities, followed by connecting places (18%). Some of those comments are identified below. Connecting programs • Better manage stormwater • Use science‐based tools •
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Further sustainable development Consider future conditions/changes Obtain funding Connecting people • Create a watershed committee • Engage a variety of interests • Improve collaboration • Improve watershed education Connecting places • Provide better access to/care for environmental corridors • Develop watershed‐specific master plans Convening watershed stakeholders at meetings, identifying wastewater needs and discharges, adopting a common policy position for watershed protection, and expanding the Trinity River COMMON VISION, are all ways in which these opportunities can be made a reality. For electronic versions of this, and other watershed flyers, visit www.nctcog.org/watershed. Funded in part through several state and federal grants. Connecting People Connecting Places Connecting Programs Lake Bridgeport Watershed Brought to you by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) NCTCOG seeks to connect people, places, and programs to achieve safe waterways with clean water within a regional ecosystem framework of green watersheds. This flyer presents some of these efforts occurring in the Lake Bridgeport watershed. Fostering a Higher Appreciation of Water Resources The importance of the health of the West Fork of the Trinity River to the communities in the Lake Bridgeport watershed is becoming more and more apparent. Projects like the effort in Wise County to maintain and rehabilitate critical drainage structures and the innovative development ideas building on Upper West Fork of the the unique environmental value Trinity River of the watershed are just two examples of this growing appreciation. We are proud that the Trinity River COMMON VISION Program is a leading example of government cooperation. The program's overall objective is a Safe, Clean, Natural, Enjoyable, and Diverse river corridor. For over twenty years now, the program has fostered a higher appreciation of how this important water resource impacts us all. As the North Central Texas region continues to grow and develop, the Lake Bridgeport watershed will certainly be affected. The Trinity River COMMON VISION seeks to address the challenges growing communities will face and the impacts on our water resources. Efforts to update mapping and modeling tools for decision makers are going to be exciting areas of work in the upcoming years. Maintenance and fine‐tuning of the Corridor Development Certificate (CDC) process will also be areas for our partners to address; finding ways to pass on the lessons learned to new areas of the Upper Trinity River Basin. For more information about the Trinity River COMMON VISION Program, visit www.nctcog.org/envir/SEEsafe/fpm. Spring 2011 Protection Strategies for Watersheds of Water Supply Reservoirs Lake Bridgeport is the uppermost impoundment on the West Fork of the Trinity River. While the watershed can be characterized as largely rural, with primarily ranchland and agricultural activities, Lake Bridgeport Lake Bridgeport has received attention from recent watershed studies conducted as part of the Trinity River Basin Environmental Restoration Initiative 2010. The focus is on the impacts of sediment and nutrient loads to all of the impoundments on the Upper West Fork. For Lake Bridgeport the concerns center on the developing watershed and accompanying land activities which may contribute additional loading to the reservoir. The Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) is also considering Lake Bridgeport as a point to which water from western Oklahoma could be delivered and then brought down through the Upper West Fork system. The water quality of Lake Bridgeport would therefore be important from the standpoint of watershed management and protection strategies. Wastewater Treatment within the Watershed There are only three municipal wastewater treatment facilities in the Lake Bridgeport watershed. The Runaway Bay and Bridgeport facilities are adjacent to the lake, while the City of Jacksboro treatment plant is farther up in the watershed. Wastewater discharges should not generate major impacts, although the level of nutrient loading may be an issue to consider in the future. There are numerous sand and gravel mining operations in the Lake Bridgeport area, and these could be significant contributors of sediment loading, but most are located in watersheds that drain to waterways below the Lake Bridgeport dam and not into the reservoir itself. (continued on back)