Watershed Protection Plans (WPPs) are locally-driven projects that serve as a mechanism for addressing complex water quality problems that occur across multiple jurisdictions. The goal of a WPP is to protect healthy waterbodies from potential pollutant threats and to restore polluted waterbodies. Watershed protection planning serves as a tool to better leverage the resources of local governments, state and federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations. The planning and development process integrates the viewpoints of all stakeholders in the watershed to create innovative solutions that benefit the community and the surrounding environment, promote a unified approach to seeking funding for implementation projects, and create a coordinated public communication and education program.
Texas Watershed Stewards play an important role in WPP development and implementation. In fact, most workshops are held in locations currently undergoing development of a WPP or planning for WPP implementation. One of the main goals of the TWS program is to educate the local citizenry about the basics of watersheds and water quality, and then motivate them to participate in an upcoming WPP for their watershed.
The Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the TSSWCB provide guidance and technical assistance to local stakeholder groups in developing and implementing watershed protection plans. For a list of current WPP projects around the state, please visit: http://tsswcb.state.tx.us/wpp.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has broken the planning and implementation process for WPPs into 6 major steps:
