Carters Creek (Segment 1209C) and Burton Creek (Segment 1209L) are located in central Brazos County and are tributaries of the Navasota River. The contributing watersheds cover roughly 36,000 acres throughout the Southern Post Oak Savanna ecoregion. Land uses in these watersheds differ in that the Burton Creek watershed is totally urbanized while Carters Creek is roughly 50 percent urban and 50 percent rural. Urbanization has impacted water quality and quantity in each of these watersheds by altering their hydrologic cycle. Impervious cover (parking lots, roofs, etc.) associated with urbanization limits infiltration into the soil and leads to increases in stormwater runoff. Baseflow levels are also augmented through wastewater treatment plant effluent and in some cases smaller streams are almost totally comprised of these inputs during the drier months of the year.

Both of these creeks are currently listed as impaired water bodies on the 2008 Texas Water Quality Inventory and 303(d) List published in even years by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Burton Creek has been on the list since 2006, and Carters Creek has been represented there in every report since 1999. Water quality monitoring indicates that these water bodies are not meeting their designated contact recreation use standards due to elevated levels of E. coli bacteria. Excessive amounts of the monitored, non-pathogenic strain of E. coli in a water body signify an increased risk for disease-causing pathogens to be present and effectively limit the safe use of a water body for contact recreation. Both E. coli and other pathogenic organisms that may be present in Carters and Burton Creeks are derived from the fecal material of birds and warm blooded mammals.

In the Improving Water Quality in Carters and Burton Creek project, work is being done by the Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research (TIAER) to assess water quality data, identify potential sources of E. coli in the watershed and to develop a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for each of these creeks. A TMDL defines the maximum amount of pollutant, in this case E. coli, that a water body can receive yet still meet its designated water quality standards. Through this TMDL process, allowable pollutant loads will be allocated to identified pollutant sources in the watershed.

In concert with the TMDL, the development of a TMDL Implementation Plan (I-Plan) will be facilitated by the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI). The I-Plan will serve as a means to describe pollution control measures that are needed to restore water quality in Carters and Burton Creeks. The I-Plan will be developed through a stakeholder involvement process where initial stakeholder meetings are held to provide information on water quality, bacteria and TMDLs. Following these initial meetings, work groups will be established and will develop recommended pollution control measures to reduce E. coli loads derived from sources under their purview. These recommendations from the various workgroups established will be combined into the draft I-Plan.