Houston River begins at the crossing of

LA 12 Louisiana Highway 12 (LA 12) is a state highway located in southwestern Louisiana. It runs in an east–west direction from the Texas state line west of Starks to a junction with U.S. Highway 171 (US 171) and U.S. Highway 190 (US&nb ...

, northeast of Starks, at the mouth of Bear Head creek in

Calcasieu Parish Calcasieu Parish (; french: Paroisse de Calcasieu) is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located on the southwestern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 216,785. The p ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and terminates at the confluence with the West Fork

Calcasieu River The Calcasieu River ( ; french: Rivière Calcasieu) is a river on the Gulf Coast in southwestern Louisiana. Approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, ...

on the southwest border of

Sam Houston Jones State Park Sam Houston Jones State Park is a park near the city of Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, in southwestern Louisiana (USA), located at the confluence of the Houston and Calcasieu Rivers and Indian Bayou. It consists of of woodlands, lakes and rive ...

Alternate names

Houston River is also referred to as Houston Creek and sometimes erroneously as West Fork Calcasieu River. The river is considered a stream by the GNIS

Drainage basin

Houston River is part of the Calcasieu-Mermentau Basin and a sub-basin of the West Fork Calcasieu (HUC 08080205).

Controversy

The

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) (french: Département de Qualité Environnemental de Louisiane) is a state agency of Louisiana that monitors the environment of the state. It is headquartered in the Galvez Building in downto ...

(LDEQ) issued a fish consumption advisory 11/20/00 and revised 5/29/03 then 7/1/04, for the Calcasieu River Drainage Basin, because of elevated

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

levels. The fish includes

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

freshwater drum The freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', is a fish endemic to North and Central America. It is the only species in the genus ''Aplodinotus'', and is a member of the family Sciaenidae. It is the only North American member of the group that ...

, and

bowfin The bowfin (''Amia calva'') is a bony fish, native to North America. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, grindle, grinnel, swamp trout, and choupique. It is regarded as a relict, being the sole surviving species of the Halecomorphi ...

(choupique, grinnel) The 2016 Louisiana Water Quality Integrated Report was issued by the LDEQ February 10, 2017, indicating that potential health risk exists. The report listed that certain areas such as "Primary Contact Recreation (PCR; swimming) and "Secondary Contact Recreation" (SCR; boating) received a "Fully supporting designated use (F), but "Fish and wildlife propagation" (FWP; fishing) received a "Not supporting designated use" (N). The suspected cause of impairment included chloride, Mercury in fish tissue, oxygen; dissolved, sulfates, and total dissolved solids.

fecal coliform A fecal coliform (British: faecal coliform) is a facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-sporulating bacterium. Coliform bacteria generally originate in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Fecal coliforms are capable of growth ...

was also found in Bear Head creek up to Houston River as an impairment concerning swimming.2016 Louisiana Water Quality Integrated Report details
(pp. 33) Retrieved 2017-07-13 The

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

added Houston River to ''Louisiana’s 2014 Clean Water Act Section 303(d)'' list (Subsegment 030806) because of waterbody impairment combinations (WICs) of chloride, sulfates, and total dissolved solids.

References

Rivers of Louisiana Calcasieu River Rivers of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana {{Louisiana-river-stub