County: Titus
Parameters: Selenium
River Basin: Cypress Creek
Segment: 0404D
Project Background and
Goals
Welsh Reservoir is impounds Swauano and Justiss Creeks. It is
located eleven miles southeast of Mount Pleasant in Titus County.
The 1,465-acre reservoir was constructed in 1976 to serve as a
cooling pond for a steam-electric power plant. Welsh Reservoir is a
popular recreational area for boating and scuba diving. Fishing for
sunfish, trophy bass, catfish, and crappie also lures large numbers
of recreationists to the reservoir each year.
In 1992, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS;
then known as TDH) issued an advisory restricting the consumption
of fish from the reservoir because selenium concentrations in the
fish posed a risk to consumers. The goal of this project was to
determine whether the consumption of fish from the reservoir still
posed a threat to human health. The TCEQ worked with the DSHS to
collect fish samples, conduct laboratory analyses, and characterize
the risks to consumers from all contaminants found in fish-tissue
samples.
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Project Status
After assessing all the data collected and characterizing the
risks associated with all the contaminants found in fish tissue,
the DSHS concluded that consumption of fish from Welsh Reservoir no
longer poses a threat to human health. The fish consumption
advisory was rescinded on October 14, 2004.
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For More Information
For additional information regarding this project, please call
Dania Drogolewicz at 512/239-3499. Or e-mail us at tmdl@tceq.state.tx.us and
reference the Welsh Reservoir in the subject line.
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