The Texas Water Commission (TWC) began supporting volunteer environmental monitoring in response to a series of fish kills along the Pecos River, which began in 1985.  Citizens in the area wanted to know what was causing these incidents and they wanted to be involved in the process of restoring and protecting the river.

In May, 1988, a TWC representative attended the first national citizens' monitoring conference.  In the fall of 1988, TWC held several public meetings along the Pecos to discuss the fish kills.  One of the purposes of the meetings was to invite cooperation from the citizens in the form of volunteer monitoring.  In May, 1989, the Pecos River Watch first met and began sampling the river.  The handful of volunteers included ranchers, retirees, and local industry.  These volunteers collected over 400 sets of measurements from nine sites on the Pecos River from May 1989 to November 1991.  During this same period, TWC collected fewer than 30 samples from four sites in the affected areas.

The Commission established a volunteer monitoring task force in February 1990.  The task force recommended TWC provide the broadest level of support for citizens' monitoring within the agency.  Subsequently, TWC applied for and received a Lake Water Quality Assessment grant from the EPA in order to support the program.

In February 1991, Texas Watch (now Texas Stream Team), the statewide volunteer environmental monitoring program, was established.  The program began in response to public outcries and now serves as an important link between the public and the state in environmental quality matters.

Texas Watch's (Texas Stream Team) founding agency, the Texas Water Commission (TWC), was merged with other agencies in 1993 to form the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), which was renamed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in 2002. In 1999, the TNRCC supported the move of Texas Stream Team to the Department of Geography at Southwest Texas State University. Southwest Texas State University was renamed Texas State University–San Marcos in 2003.  In the spring of 2006, Texas State University–San Marcos transferred Texas Watch (Texas Stream Team) from its home of seven years in the Department of Geography to its new home in the River Systems Institute.

Each of these transitions had a character of its own. Some were merely name changes, others resulted in major shifts in management, personnel, and organizational support. This latest transition to the River Systems Institute is significant for several reasons that are presented in this newsletter issue. In brief, the Institute, Texas State’s leading water resources program, integrates academics and research with service programs like Texas Watch. The diverse nature of the Institute provides a rich and abundant organizational framework for Texas Stream Team to pursue its objectives of data collection and analysis, nonpoint source pollution education, and school-based environmental education. In addition, the Institute this year moved to the newly established Texas Rivers Center where it occupies the historic hotel at Aquarena Springs which was recently renovated as office space. Here, an outstanding collaborative environment includes Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Freshwater Resources Program and the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program, along with Texas State’s Aquarena Center research and educational activities, which were assigned to the River Systems Institute in August 2005.