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FOR Receives H-GAC Recognition

Posted on Feb 10th, 2021

"Congratulations!!! This is a great honor. You should all pat yourselves on the back for this amazing effort and hard work. The River is a better place because of the efforts of FOR." --Susie Alford, President, CEO Berg Oliver

Friends of the River San Bernard (FOR) received “Special Recognition for Exemplary Environmental Advocacy by a Citizen’s Group” as part of Houston-Galveston Area Council's 2020 “Water Innovation Strategies of Excellence (WISE) Awards”. Justin Hillis, FOR’s Environmental Committee Chairman, accepted the award on behalf of FOR during a “virtual presentation” ceremony on February 5th.

WISE Awards recognize innovative strategies and projects in the Houston-Galveston region that serve as models for improving water quality. This program is overseen by the Natural Resource Advisory Committee, an advisory panel of expert judges and industry professionals to the Houston-Galveston Area Council Board of Directors. There is no entry fee for the WISE Awards.

The application submitted by the FOR Environmental Committee described a project whose central piece was specialized training for two FOR volunteers, Tim Logan and Valroy Maudlin, to collect water samples for bacteria testing. Galveston Bay Foundation provided the training and also tested the samples which were collected monthly at two locations on the river from April 2017 through March 2019.

The FOR Environmental Committee then analyzed the test results to better understand the timing and magnitude of occasional bacteria spikes in the river. That analysis showed that bacteria spikes in the San Bernard appear to be associated most often with rainfall runoff events and are relatively short lived.

The project was initiated in response to recommendations in the San Bernard River Watershed Protection Plan, a collaborative effort between H-GAC and river stakeholders to protect the San Bernard River. The WISE application also described ongoing efforts by Friends of the River San Bernard to reduce contaminants in the watershed that can be flushed into the river during heavy rains. Those efforts include hosting annual septic system education programs presented by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. The Extension Service often has funding for septic system inspections, repairs and replacements. FOR also conducts annual river clean ups, participates in TxDOT’s Adopt-a-Highway program for a two mile stretch of FM 2611 where it crosses the river, and provides “River Ranger” education programs to fifth graders at elementary schools throughout the watershed.

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