The Elm Fork of the Trinity River is the main river of Denton. It is the main source for drinking water, irrigation, and recreation activities for the entire population. The entire Trinity River of Texas covers over 18,000 square miles of Texas and flows through thirty- eight Texas cities. In the past The Trinity River of Texas usually incurred long and dry summers, which in turn lead to scarce water sources. This substantially impacted residential needs. Most of the rain came in the spring time, resulting in one of the most damaging trinity River floods recorded downstream of Dallas. With nothing to stop the flow of the water it continuously flowed destroying everything along the way. The result of this led to developing a system of man-made…show more content… Most of the pollution that impacts the Texas Trinity watershed are caused by the wide range of land use practiced in the watershed. Considering that the Trinity River moves through the Dallas- Fort worth Metroplex, it is consequently affected by many human activities. Most of the pollution that have affected these waters come from sources such as, urbanization, municipal and industrial developments, and agricultural practices (Cathy et al. 2007).Within the Denton County it is known that many of the pollution occurs through Municipal practices, with Agricultural and industrial following. Population growth is a serious noted cause of environmental problems associated with the river. With the growing population the water quality of these waters will continue to be degraded. Historically, the Trinity River of Texas started having problems due to the low flows of water in the summer months. Due to the low flow these waters were contaminated by wastes. This problem grew larger when two big slaughterhouses opened in Fort Worth. The establishment of this business as well as the growing population of cities made the water flows stagnant and very harmful especially to human and aquatic life. Due to the large number of Typhoid fever cases and dead animals along the banks of the river, the problem grew considerably larger. This in turn led to the Texas department of Health to…show more content… Triclosan is an antibacterial agent that is present in a variety of beauty products ranging from soaps, deodorants, and cosmetics. It is known to cause skin irritation, hormone disruption, and antibiotic resistance to bacteria. Atrazine is a herbicide used to kill broadleaf weeds in agriculture, golf course, and residential lawns. It can disrupt hormones and development. These pollutants are a concern to watersheds. Considering the population and the vast majority of the population who use products containing these pollutants it becomes very easy for them to get released into watersheds. There are two main ways in which Triclosan can make it into waterways and that is through the sink and being flushed down the toilet by many households. Atrazine can make it into waterways simply by rainstorms or flooding. These two pollutants are known to cause physical harm to aquatic life. Atrazine has been shown to affect the reproduction of fish. According to Oliveira et.al 2009 concentrations of atrazine commonly found in agricultural streams and rivers caused reduced reproduction and spawning, as well as tissue abnormalities in laboratory studies with fish. Triclosan can cause acute toxicity for embryos and delayed hatching. As well as spine malformation and eye and body pigmentation problems (Oliveira et.al 2009). In other words triclosan can have negative effects on aquatic life
