City of Fort Worth Surface Water Quality Monitoring

Introduction to the Rapid Bioassessment Program

Environmental Services Department - Environmental Quality Division

Sycamore Creek at former golf course

Introduction

Fort Worth’s streams, lakes and rivers are a valuable resource for drinking water, flood control, aesthetics and recreation. The Water Quality section of Environmental Quality monitors the area streams using rapid bioassessments to determine the overall health of the streams. Bioassessments use living organisms to assess or monitor environmental conditions.  Bioassessments provide information about long term stream conditions, and include sampling the aquatic life, such as aquatic insects and fish, collecting habitat information and physico-chemical water quality at each site.

Sites selected for sampling in Fort Worth are based on watersheds that are within or partially within the City.  Fort Worth currently samples, as part of their regulatory requirements, six watersheds throughout Fort Worth. An additional three watersheds are also being sampled as the city has increased in size. On monitored creeks sampled for regulatory requirements, three sites were selected for sampling: an upper reach site (1), a mid-reach site (2), and a lower reach site(3). On the additional streams sampled, a lower reach site (3) was selected for sampling. As resources allow, additional sites will be added upstream on these creeks. A watershed is an area of land that drains to the same waterbody.

Mary's Creek Watershed (⯁)

Mary’s Creek watershed is located in west Fort Worth and encompasses approximately 35,360 acres, or 55.25 square miles.  The primary land use in this watershed is residential, followed by agriculture and commercial. This area is rapidly growing in Fort Worth with new residential development. Mary’s Creek is primarily limestone bedrock substrate with areas of cobble gravel riffles. Mary’s Creek has a wide variety of aquatic insect life and is generally rated with an intermediate or high aquatic life use. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to ensure these ratings improve or don’t degrade during the ongoing growth spurt by regular construction and industrial inspections and encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Lake Como-Clear Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Lake Como-Clear Fork Trinity River watershed is located in southwestern-central Fort Worth, and encompasses approximately 25,060 acres, or 39.16 square miles. The main waterbody in this watershed is the Clear Fork Trinity River; however, the City of Fort Worth samples a primary tributary to the Clear Fork, which flows through Foster Park and Overton Park. The primary land use in this watershed is residential, followed by mixed use and parks. This creek is an urban creek, and has areas of manmade reinforced banks as well as more natural creek banks. The creek has a mix of bedrock, clay and cobble/gravel substrate, with some riffle areas as well as laminar flow.  The aquatic life use for this creek varies from limited to intermediate aquatic life use, and the Environmental Stormwater team is working to improve the water quality by encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Headwaters Sycamore Creek Watershed (⯁)

Headwater of Sycamore Creek watershed is located in south-central Fort Worth. The watershed covers 23,680 acres or 37 square miles. The primary land use in this watershed is residential, with institutional, and commercial land use in close percentages in the area. Sycamore Creek has different substrate compositions as you travel downstream. At the upstream most site, substrate is primarily cobble/gravel with some bedrock, while at the most downstream site the substrate is primarily bedrock with some cobble/gravel riffles. The aquatic life use ranges from limited to high. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections and encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Marine Creek-West Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Marine Creek-West Fork Trinity River watershed is located in central Fort Worth, and encompasses 21,017 acres, or 32. 84 square miles. The primary land use is residential followed by industrial and mixed use. Marine Creek substrate is mostly bedrock with some cobble/gravel at the upper reach, while at the mid and lower reach sites is primarily cobble/gravel with some bedrock. The lowest site sampled is adjacent to the Fort Worth Stockyards. The aquatic life use ranges from limited to high. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer one management.

Sycamore Creek-West Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Sycamore Creek-West Fork Trinity River watershed is located in the north central part of Fort Worth, and comprises 22,340 acres or 34.9 square miles. The primary land use in this watershed is industrial, followed by residential and parks. The main waterbody in this watershed is the West Fork Trinity River; however, the City samples a primary tributary to the West Fork known as Little Fossil Creek. This bottom substrate of the creek is dominated by bedrock with areas of cobble/gravel. The aquatic life use for this creek is mostly intermediate with some seasons indicating high and a few indicating limited life use. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

White’s Branch-Big Fossil Creek Watershed (⯁)

White’s Branch-Big Fossil Creek watershed is located in north Fort Worth, and includes 35, 840 acres, or 56.0 square miles. The primary land use is residential, followed by industrial and commercial. The stream the City of Fort Worth samples is Big Fossil Creek. Big Fossil Creek is dominated by boulder and cobble/gravel substrate at the upper reach, gravel at the mid reach, and bedrock with some cobble/gravel/boulder at the lowest reach sampled. The aquatic life uses range from a rare limited to a rare exceptional. Most sampling seasons the aquatic life uses are within the intermediate to high range.  The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Farmer’s Branch-West Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Farmer’s Branch-West Fork Trinity River watershed is located in west/central Fort Worth. This watershed encompasses a total of 17,305 acres or 27.04 square miles. The acreage within the City limits is 11,113 acres, or 17.06 square miles. This watershed encompasses both the West Fork Trinity River below Lake Worth and Farmer’s Branch. Fort Worth samples Farmer’s Branch, west of loop 820 before it enters into White Settlement and the NAS Joint Reserve base. The monitored watershed includes 919 acres, or 1.44 square miles. The creek substrate is primarily bedrock with some areas of cobble/gravel, and may be dry with pools in times of low rainfall. The aquatic life use generally falls within the limited or intermediate range. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Henrietta Creek Watershed (⯁)

Henrietta Creek watershed is located in far north Fort Worth and covers 22,998 acres, or 35.93 square miles, some of which is within the city of Haslet. The acreage within the City of Fort Worth and the extra territorial jurisdiction includes 13,766 acres, or 21.51 square miles. This area is rapidly growing with new development. The creek substrate is a mixture of bedrock and cobble/gravel, and the aquatic life use usually falls into the intermediate range. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Headwaters Elizabeth Creek Watershed (⯁)

Headwaters Elizabeth Creek Watershed is located in far north Fort Worth, and encompasses 34,192 acres, or 53.42 square miles. The acreage within the City of Fort Worth covers 7,479 acres, or 11.69 square miles. A portion of the remaining acreage is within the extra territorial jurisdiction. This area is rapidly growing with new development. The creek substrate is mixture of bedrock, boulder, cobble and gravel. The aquatic life use falls within the limited or intermediate categories. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Rush Creek - Village Creek Watershed

Rush Creek-Village Creek Watershed I s located in east Fort Worth, and covers 31,007 acres or 48.45 square miles. The acreage within Fort Worth covers approximately 5162 acres or  8.07 square miles. The remaining portion of the watershed is within Arlington. This creek currently sampled within the watershed is Cottonwood Creek. Cottonwood Creek has mostly a cobble gravel bottom substrate in the sample location, and the aquatic life use is in the limited category. The Environmental Stormwater team works to improve the water quality in the watershed through regular construction and industrial inspections, encouraging good buffer zone management, and volunteer trash events.

Wildcat Branch - Lake Arlington Watershed

Wildcat Branch-Lake Arlington watershed is located in southeast Fort Worth, and includes 13, 157 acres, or 20.55 square miles. The acreage within the city of Fort Worth is 8,816 acres, or 13.78 square miles. The creek currently sampled within the watershed is an unnamed tributary that flows through Prairie Dog Park. The creek substrate is a mixture of bedrock and cobble, with small amounts of boulder and gravel as well. There are some broken concrete slabs in areas along the banks, and in the summer months the creek usually goes dry.  The aquatic life use falls within the limited or intermediate categories. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to improve the water quality in the watershed through various ways such as volunteer trash events, encouragement of good riparian buffer zone management, and regular construction and industrial inspections.

Mary's Creek Watershed (⯁)

Mary’s Creek watershed is located in west Fort Worth and encompasses approximately 35,360 acres, or 55.25 square miles.  The primary land use in this watershed is residential, followed by agriculture and commercial. This area is rapidly growing in Fort Worth with new residential development. Mary’s Creek is primarily limestone bedrock substrate with areas of cobble gravel riffles. Mary’s Creek has a wide variety of aquatic insect life and is generally rated with an intermediate or high aquatic life use. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to ensure these ratings improve or don’t degrade during the ongoing growth spurt by regular construction and industrial inspections and encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

The City of Fort Worth currently samples four locations within the watershed, noted as MRY0, MRY1, MRY2, and MRY3 on the map to the right.

Lake Como-Clear Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Lake Como-Clear Fork Trinity River watershed is located in southwestern-central Fort Worth, and encompasses approximately 25,060 acres, or 39.16 square miles. The main waterbody in this watershed is the Clear Fork Trinity River; however, the City of Fort Worth samples a primary tributary to the Clear Fork, which flows through Foster Park and Overton Park. The primary land use in this watershed is residential, followed by mixed use and parks. This creek is an urban creek, and has areas of manmade reinforced banks as well as more natural creek banks. The creek has a mix of bedrock, clay and cobble/gravel substrate, with some riffle areas as well as laminar flow.  The aquatic life use for this creek varies from limited to intermediate aquatic life use, and the Environmental Stormwater team is working to improve the water quality by encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Also within the Lake Como-Clear Fork Trinity River is Lake Como. Beginning in 2021, the City initiated a Neighborhood improvement project, and as part of that project, the lake is sampled for water quality parameters on a monthly basis. Beginning in November 2021, the lake was drawn down to repair the dam. With the dam drawn down, there was a large amount of trash exposed. Code Compliance assisted with removing the exposed trash from the area. A final water quality report will be prepared at the conclusion of the sampling in August 2022. 

The City of Fort Worth currently samples three locations within the watershed, noted as OVR1, OVR2, and OVR3 on the map to the right.

Headwaters Sycamore Creek Watershed (⯁)

Headwater of Sycamore Creek watershed is located in south-central Fort Worth. The watershed covers 23,680 acres or 37 square miles. The primary land use in this watershed is residential, with institutional, and commercial land use in close percentages in the area. Sycamore Creek has different substrate compositions as you travel downstream. At the upstream most site, substrate is primarily cobble/gravel with some bedrock, while at the most downstream site the substrate is primarily bedrock with some cobble/gravel riffles. The aquatic life use ranges from limited to high. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections and encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

The City of Fort Worth currently samples three locations within the watershed, noted as SYC1, SYC2, and SYC3 on the map to the right.

Marine Creek-West Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Marine Creek-West Fork Trinity River watershed is located in central Fort Worth, and encompasses 21,017 acres, or 32. 84 square miles. The primary land use is residential followed by industrial and mixed use. Marine Creek substrate is mostly bedrock with some cobble/gravel at the upper reach, while at the mid and lower reach sites is primarily cobble/gravel with some bedrock. The lowest site sampled is adjacent to the Fort Worth Stockyards. The aquatic life use ranges from limited to high. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer one management.

The City of Fort Worth currently samples three locations within the watershed, noted as MAR1, MAR2, and MAR3 on the map.

Sycamore Creek-West Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Sycamore Creek-West Fork Trinity River watershed is located in the north central part of Fort Worth, and comprises 22,340 acres or 34.9 square miles. The primary land use in this watershed is industrial, followed by residential and parks. The main waterbody in this watershed is the West Fork Trinity River; however, the City samples a primary tributary to the West Fork known as Little Fossil Creek. This bottom substrate of the creek is dominated by bedrock with areas of cobble/gravel. The aquatic life use for this creek is mostly intermediate with some seasons indicating high and a few indicating limited life use. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

The City of Fort Worth currently samples three locations within the watershed, noted as LFC1, LFC2, and LFC3.

White’s Branch-Big Fossil Creek Watershed (⯁)

White’s Branch-Big Fossil Creek watershed is located in north Fort Worth, and includes 35, 840 acres, or 56.0 square miles. The primary land use is residential, followed by industrial and commercial. The stream the City of Fort Worth samples is Big Fossil Creek. Big Fossil Creek is dominated by boulder and cobble/gravel substrate at the upper reach, gravel at the mid reach, and bedrock with some cobble/gravel/boulder at the lowest reach sampled. The aquatic life uses range from a rare limited to a rare exceptional. Most sampling seasons the aquatic life uses are within the intermediate to high range.  The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

The City of Fort Worth currently samples three locations within the watershed, noted as BFC1, BFC2, and BFC3 on the map to the right.

Farmer’s Branch-West Fork Trinity River Watershed (⯁)

Farmer’s Branch-West Fork Trinity River watershed is located in west/central Fort Worth. This watershed encompasses a total of 17,305 acres or 27.04 square miles. The acreage within the City limits is 11,113 acres, or 17.06 square miles. This watershed encompasses both the West Fork Trinity River below Lake Worth and Farmer’s Branch. Fort Worth samples Farmer’s Branch, west of loop 820 before it enters into White Settlement and the NAS Joint Reserve base. The monitored watershed includes 919 acres, or 1.44 square miles. The creek substrate is primarily bedrock with some areas of cobble/gravel, and may be dry with pools in times of low rainfall. The aquatic life use generally falls within the limited or intermediate range. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Henrietta Creek Watershed (⯁)

Henrietta Creek watershed is located in far north Fort Worth and covers 22,998 acres, or 35.93 square miles, some of which is within the city of Haslet. The acreage within the City of Fort Worth and the extra territorial jurisdiction includes 13,766 acres, or 21.51 square miles. This area is rapidly growing with new development. The creek substrate is a mixture of bedrock and cobble/gravel, and the aquatic life use usually falls into the intermediate range. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Headwaters Elizabeth Creek Watershed (⯁)

Headwaters Elizabeth Creek Watershed is located in far north Fort Worth, and encompasses 34,192 acres, or 53.42 square miles. The acreage within the City of Fort Worth covers 7,479 acres, or 11.69 square miles. A portion of the remaining acreage is within the extra territorial jurisdiction. This area is rapidly growing with new development. The creek substrate is mixture of bedrock, boulder, cobble and gravel. The aquatic life use falls within the limited or intermediate categories. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to maintain and improve the water quality in the watershed through regular industrial and construction inspections as well as encouraging good riparian buffer zone management.

Rush Creek - Village Creek Watershed

Rush Creek-Village Creek Watershed I s located in east Fort Worth, and covers 31,007 acres or 48.45 square miles. The acreage within Fort Worth covers approximately 5162 acres or  8.07 square miles. The remaining portion of the watershed is within Arlington. This creek currently sampled within the watershed is Cottonwood Creek. Cottonwood Creek has mostly a cobble gravel bottom substrate in the sample location, and the aquatic life use is in the limited category. The Environmental Stormwater team works to improve the water quality in the watershed through regular construction and industrial inspections, encouraging good buffer zone management, and volunteer trash events.

Wildcat Branch - Lake Arlington Watershed

Wildcat Branch-Lake Arlington watershed is located in southeast Fort Worth, and includes 13, 157 acres, or 20.55 square miles. The acreage within the city of Fort Worth is 8,816 acres, or 13.78 square miles. The creek currently sampled within the watershed is an unnamed tributary that flows through Prairie Dog Park. The creek substrate is a mixture of bedrock and cobble, with small amounts of boulder and gravel as well. There are some broken concrete slabs in areas along the banks, and in the summer months the creek usually goes dry.  The aquatic life use falls within the limited or intermediate categories. The Environmental Stormwater team is working to improve the water quality in the watershed through various ways such as volunteer trash events, encouragement of good riparian buffer zone management, and regular construction and industrial inspections.

Observed Aquatic Life Use Results 2018 - present

The method for deriving the Aquatic Life Use is found in the TCEQ’s Surface Water Quality Monitoring Procedures, Volume 2: Methods for Collecting and Analyzing Biological Assemblage and Habitat Data (TCEQ RG-416, rev. May 2014, updated Nov 2019) and uses twelve macroinvertebrate community structural and functional metrics for assessment of biotic integrity. The biological metrics are calculated with the macroinvertebrate identification data from each site, an interim score is assigned to each individual metric, and the individual metric scores are summed to produce an overall score for each individual site. Scores generated at each site are compared to values in TCEQ guidelines to determine an Aquatic Life Use rating. Overall, the Aquatic Life Use designation is an indication of a stream to provide suitable habitat and water quality to sustain a desirable aquatic biological community.

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