If water could talk, the Brazos River Authority’s environmental services laboratory would be one of its most trusted confidants.
The BRA’s team of water detectives is on a constant mission to unravel the mysteries of the Brazos River watershed. From the microscopic to the macroscopic, they analyze every aspect of the water’s health.
Maintaining water quality is the highest priority for the Brazos River Authority. Among the many experienced BRA employees are those who work in and run the environmental services laboratory at the BRA’s Central Office in Waco.
Created in 1995, the laboratory was established to analyze water quality samples across the Brazos River watershed. Those samples are brought to the lab for analysis, where they’re meticulously examined for everything from microscopic organisms to harmful chemicals. Since its inception, as data needs became known, the Brazos River Authority’s environmental services laboratory has continuously added new analytical capabilities. With the increase in sample analysis, the number and qualifications of laboratory staff have grown to meet those needs.
Most samples are collected to support the Texas Clean Rivers Program run by the TCEQ. The Clean Rivers Act requires an ongoing assessment of water quality issues and management strategies statewide to guide Texas water resources policy and decision-making. The Texas Clean Rivers Act came online in 1991, mandating partnerships between the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and river authorities to monitor and manage water quality issues. The laboratory staff works to ensure accurate and timely completion of all required monitoring and reporting to the TCEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency. All BRA-generated surface water quality data is publicly available on the BRA’s website.
“We’re doing 125-160 locations across the Brazos River Basin, depending on weather and safety concerns,” said Tiffany Malzahn, Environmental and Compliance Manager. “We do sampling for a variety of surface water parameters to ensure compliance in the basin with the Texas Surface Water Quality standards, which are both Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-approved water quality standards. We monitor water temperature, pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen content, which is so critical for our aquatic life.”
“We look at chloride, sulfate, total dissolved solid levels, total suspended solids, turbidity, then we do a whole suite of nutrients from nitrate-nitrogen, orthophosphate, total phosphorus, ammonia-nitrogen and total kleldhal nitrogen,” Malzahn added. “We evaluate the chlorophyll-a content and concentration in the water which captures your single-cell algae. In some areas of the basin, we also monitor E. coli and in other areas, Enterococcus.”
Other samples analyzed by the laboratory include those needed to support regular BRA operations and those for support of intensive water quality studies.
In 2008, the laboratory became accredited by TCEQ under the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, or NELAP, with guiding documents managed by The NELAC Institute. Under this program, the lab successfully adheres to national standards for laboratory operations. To maintain the state-required laboratory accreditation, the
BRA has developed an extensive quality control/quality assessment (QA/QC) program. The water quality laboratory and the QA/QC Program undergoes an audit every two years conducted by TCEQ’s NELAP staff. During this audit, every aspect of the environmental services quality system related to the laboratory analysis of water quality samples is audited for compliance with NELAP standards, the environmental services’ quality manual, and analytical method requirements.
Now, almost three decades after it began, the Environmental Services Department is expanding into a new building at its location at the BRA’s Central Office in Waco.
The lab was originally established in a 12x12 foot space in the organization’s original Waco Central Office, located next door to the current location. That original space was converted from an office to a break room, then to a break room/laboratory, noted BRA General Manager/CEO David Collinsworth, who worked in the original lab as a new hire in the mid 1990s. The BRA moved to its current location in 2002.
“Those of us that collected the samples returned back to the BRA annex, which is now the dry cleaners across from the current Central Office, to complete the analysis,” Collinsworth said.
The current lab is about 800 square feet. The BRA is in the process of building a new 10,000-square-foot lab – with room for future growth. An additional building will feature enclosed storage for boats, covered storage for trucks, a climate-controlled workshop, and a sediment analysis laboratory, Malzahn explained.
“At the time the lab was originally constructed, the Texas Clean Rivers Program was much smaller and less diverse in terms of what we had to monitor for,” Malzahn said. “Over time, they’ve expanded, and we have just absolutely maxed out the existing lab.”
Part of the new construction will include a space for separate laboratory works and an eye to the future.
“So, (the new building) will be a much-improved environment and provide us with stronger quality control,” Malzahn said. “It will certainly give us extra room, which will improve worker safety. We’ll be looking to purchase additional equipment – right now, we’re maxed out on the number of samples we can process.”
The new lab space construction will be complete in 2025.
There are going to be a lot of benefits to having the new lab.
One of the benefits will be the “boat barn,” noted Cory Scanes, a BRA Aquatic Scientist.
“Having our boats here, on campus, where it’s easier to work on them, that’s going to be so great,” Scanes said. “We won’t have to drive out and pick them up. We’ll be able to organize and manage our equipment a lot better.”
The Environmental Department’s Field Operations Team has a great deal of equipment that is mostly stored off-site, requiring daily additional time and mileage for the Aquatic Scientists just to get the tools they need to do their jobs. Having that space will allow for room to help keep all the equipment in its best shape, explained Jeremy Nickolai, BRA’s Field Operations Manager.
“Those are our tools; we’ve got to make sure they stay sharp,” Nickolai said.