Cedar Bayou is an area in east central Harris County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Some of the area is

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

; portions are within

Baytown Baytown may refer to: * Baytown, Texas, a city in the United States near Houston, Texas *Baytown culture, an archaeological culture in the United States *Operation Baytown Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland o ...

. Cedar Bayou has recently broken the record for the most rainfall in the continental

during

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

Education

Goose Creek Independent School District Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District (GCCISD) is a school district headquartered in Baytown, Texas, United States. The district has 16 elementary schools, 5 junior high schools (6-8), 4 high schools (9-12), a career center, and t ...

operates schools in the area.

Watershed character and water quality

Cedar Bayou, the area's namesake water body, is a slow moving coastal waterway with both

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

and non-tidal reaches. Its

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

originates north of highway 90, between

Lake Houston Lake Houston is a reservoir on the San Jacinto River, 15 miles (24 km) northeast of downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The reservoir is the primary municipal water supply for the city of Houston. Location and creation Situated between ...

and

Dayton, TX Dayton is a city in Liberty County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,777 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all but is land. Demographics As of the 2020 United ...

. The upper reaches of the Bayou's watershed are primarily rural or agricultural, with large undeveloped/wooded areas in its middle, and urban areas (including the urban center of Baytown, TX) in the lower reaches. The mouth of the Bayou widens into a series of small lakes before flowing into the

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

system. Cedar Bayou is listed as being impaired for certain water quality issues, including bacteria, impaired macrobenthic communities, and

PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

and

Dioxins Dioxin may refer to: * 1,2-Dioxin or 1,4-Dioxin, two unsaturated heterocyclic 6-membered rings where two carbon atoms have been replaced by oxygen atoms, giving the molecular formula C4H4O2 *Dibenzo-1,4-dioxin, the parent compound also known as ...

in edible fish tissue. In response to these issues and other local concerns, the

Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB) is a state agency of Texas, headquartered in Temple. The agency enforces the state's soil and water conservation laws and coordinates conservation and nonpoint source pollution abatement ...

and the

Houston-Galveston Area Council The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) is the region-wide voluntary association of local governments in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning Region of Texas. The organization works with local government officials to solve problems across the area ...

are working with local partners, organizations, and residents to create a watershed protection plan. This non-regulatory process will provide local stakeholders with the ability to address these issues.

References

External links

*
Cedar Bayou Watershed Protection Plan
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Harris County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas