Galveston Bay’s ‘A’ water grade is challenged

Quality for 2017 got an ‘A’, but report data is called too ‘narrow’

The Galveston Bay’s water quality grade of “A” on the annual Galveston Bay Report Card is being challenged by clean water advocates who say it’s misleading.

As Houstonians emerged waterlogged from their homes, cars and shelters after Hurricane Harvey last year, some turned their attention to Galveston Bay, fearful of what the monstrous storm might have done to its vital ecosystem.

Reports of widespread oyster deaths and sickly dolphins surfaced just as pollution numbers became public: More than 150 million gallons of raw sewage and industrial discharge, as well as toxic chemicals from about 100 companies, including Valero Energy, ExxonMobil and Arkema, had spewed into communities and local waterways. To many, it seemed common sense that some of that toxic sludge would reach the bay.

So when environmentalists announced last month that the bay’s water quality received an “A,” or “excellent,” rating for 2017 in the annual Galveston Bay Report Card — compiled by the Galveston Bay Foundation and the Houston Advanced Research Center — it seemed a spot of good fortune after a devastating year.

That rating, however, doesn’t paint a complete picture.

“I think it’s kind of misleading to label water quality an ‘A,’ ” said Brian Zabcik, clean water advocate for Environment Texas, after reviewing the report. “But it’s a very narrow definition of water quality.”

So narrow, in fact, that Erin Kinney, a center research scientist, said researchers didn’t take into account any chemical spills in the water.

“That data set wasn’t robust enough when we were developing this to provide a grade,” she said.

The water quality rating, instead, was based on the amount of dissolved oxygen, phosphorus and nitrogen in the water — important measures related to the health of marine life.

“For people saying, ‘How can water quality get an ‘A’ after Harvey?’— The ‘A’ is for the entire year, including before and after Harvey,” Kinney added.

The levels of dissolved oxygen and nitrogen in water samples from rivers, bayous and the bay “were most often at acceptable levels for supporting diverse and healthy aquatic life,” according to the report. “The water quality problems that did exist — relating to high levels of phosphorus — typically occur in bayous that receive runoff and wastewater from human activity in residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural areas.”

Zabcik said it’s possible that toxics in the water would have been diluted once that water reached the bay, despite the storm’s devastation.