About the Texas Clean Rivers Program

In 1991, the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Clean Rivers Act (Senate Bill 818) in response to growing concerns that water resource issues were not being pursued in an integrated, systematic manner. The act requires that ongoing water quality assessments be conducted for each river basin in Texas, an approach that integrates water quality and water quantity issues within a river basin, or watershed. The Clean Rivers Program (CRP) legislation mandates that "each river authority (or local governing entity) shall submit quality-assured data collected in the river basin to the commission." "Quality assured data" in the context of the legislation means "data that complies with the commission rules for water quality monitoring programs, including rules governing the methods under which water samples are collected and analyzed and data from those samples are assessed and maintained."

Because of the international nature of the Rio Grande, the State of Texas contracted with the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission in October 1998 to implement the CRP for the Rio Grande in its 1,254-mile international boundary section.

The goal of the CRP is to maintain and improve the quality of water within each river basin in Texas through an ongoing partnership involving the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), river authorities, (Program Partners), other agencies, regional entities, local and state governments, industry, and citizens. The program uses a watershed management approach to identify and evaluate water quality issues, establish priorities for corrective actions, and work to implement those actions.

For more information, visit the TCEQ Texas Clean Rivers Page.