Dirty Galveston Water

[texasboy]

The city has its days.

[pineda]

What a beautiful photo! Thanks, Texas Boy.

[J.A.S.O.N.]

[Jeebus]

wow!

[Lowbrow]

Hey I think I stayed in that same room once!!

[YakuzaIce]

Great pic, not what I expected when I clicked this thread.

[RedScare]

Yesterday, I decided to take my dog to Galveston to chase birds on the beach (she never even gets close to catching one, but it brings out the labrador in her). While driving along the seawall, my girlfriend and I were stunned at how clean the water was. When I got home, I saw this pic. So, yes, I can vouch that it looked that good.

[Talbot]

That is a very nice shot, thank you for sharing. At least it isn't always dirty.

[editor]

Best Galveston picture ever.

[lwood]

Yesterday, I decided to take my dog to Galveston to chase birds on the beach (she never even gets close to catching one, but it brings out the labrador in her).  While driving along the seawall, my girlfrienfd and I were stunned at how clean the water was.  When I got home, I saw this pic.  So, yes, I can vouch that it looked that good.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think the water in Galveston has a reputation that is not quite correct. I am there almost every weekend and the water looks great the majority of the time. It's not Florida but the prices aren't either.

[ToolMan]

The best time of year to see blue water in Galveston is March, when the cool fronts blow out of the north pushing all of the mud away from the coast. I have seen blue water 1/2 mile out many times.

[Native]

I've always heard that when the Southeast winds are prevelent for several days that the water blues up.

I love Galveston and thinks it gets a very unfair rap. It has great architecture (mainly the homes) and has a great atmosphere. Sometimes I'll make the drive just for food and atmosphere.

[VelvetJ]

Another Galveston clean water witness here. The water can be quite beautiful with it's green colored crashing waves. I suppose you have to catch it on it's best days, which by the way is indeed in the spring and at times during the winter months. At other times, as we all know, it can look like chocolate milk.

[RedScare]

I've always heard that when the Southeast winds are prevelent for several days that the water blues up.

I love Galveston and thinks it gets a very unfair rap. It has great architecture (mainly the homes) and has a great atmosphere. Sometimes I'll make the drive just for food and atmosphere.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think Native is right. A Southeast wind will blow up the Bay, keeping the muddy Trinity River freshwater out of the Gulf...similar to the dreaded storm surge we've been hearing about. A noth wind will blow that dirty Dallas water out into the Gulf, where the Gulf Stream will run it along the shore before taking it out to sea.

Here's a snippet from a newspaper column that supports that theory.

"Once on his home waters, I was struck by the clamor of commercial fishing activity. Dense mud clouds trailed behind shrimp trawlers while oyster boats circled bamboo stakes, marking reefs, artificial and natural in this unlikely seafood mecca. I tactfully commented on the poor water clarity and asked if the commercial activity was to blame.

Not really, Marcaccio answered. The brown water, in part, was freshwater from the Trinity River, but mostly the result of a persistent six-day hard north wind, he said."

[happytown]

I think Native is right. A Southeast wind will blow up the Bay, keeping the muddy Trinity River freshwater out of the Gulf...similar to the dreaded storm surge we've been hearing about. A noth wind will blow that dirty Dallas water out into the Gulf, where the Gulf Stream will run it along the shore before taking it out to sea.

Here's a snippet from a newspaper column that supports that theory.

"Once on his home waters, I was struck by the clamor of commercial fishing activity. Dense mud clouds trailed behind shrimp trawlers while oyster boats circled bamboo stakes, marking reefs, artificial and natural in this unlikely seafood mecca. I tactfully commented on the poor water clarity and asked if the commercial activity was to blame.

Not really, Marcaccio answered. The brown water, in part, was freshwater from the Trinity River, but mostly the result of a persistent six-day hard north wind, he said."

Another myth is that tarballs are caused by drilling in the gulf. In truth, tarballs have been around for ages.

[RedScare]

Funny thing is that the drilling has caused the oil pressure to drop. This means fewer oil droplets escape from the sea floor. Therefore, fewer tar balls. Amazingly, oil drilling has cleaned up Galveston's beaches.

[citykid09]

I wonder what will happen to Shilterbahn in Galveston?

[J.A.S.O.N.]

I love this guy's pics..

www.oldbaldandgrumpy.com

[gardenoaksguy]

I lived on the 8th floor of the Breakers condominiums for a year and my observation was that there is seldom a time when the water is "dirty". Sure, after heavy rains create run-off from the mainland it is true, but when you get up to where you can see beyond the shallow sandbars, the water is always incredibly blue. The wave action tends to stir up the sand in the shallow water giving it the brown color.

[editor]

The great part of that picture is the fact that you can see the sand through the clear water of the wave. I used to love sitting on the beach watching the silhouettes of schools of fish in the crests of the waves. I loved wading out into the water and standing very still. The fish would start tugging at my shoelaces thinking they were food. After a few minutes I could slowly swing my arms in the water and bump into dozens and dozens of fish. I thought it was cool. My wife thinks it's gross.

[texasboy]

Here are some more views.

[citykid09]

Before all of the oil and mess, was Galvestons water ever naturally blue, clear and clean?

[sevfiv]

from wikipedia:

Because of the ever increasing amount of nitrogen and phosphates dissolved in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, pollution has more than doubled since 1950. Current estimates suggest that three times as much nitrogen is being carried into the Gulf today compared with levels 30 years ago or at any time in history. Blooms of photosynthesizers die and sink, and the processes of their decay exhausts the available supplies of oxygen dissolved in the water. Every summer there is now an area south of the Louisiana coastline, larger than the U.S. state of Massachusetts at over 7,000 mi

[WesternGulf]

Maybe an expert on Galveston could explain this better but I have read several articles that Galveston's water is naturally that color. The fact that the Galveston coast is being washed away does not help the color of the water along the coast. In some parts the water goes all the way to the seawall without any areas to sit or lay out on sand. I believe this is because Galveston has a bad case of soil erosion. The sand right under the water is clearly reflected along the coast. Look at these recent satellite images. Notice how brown the water is near the coast, but it turns very blue not too far out. Some of the bluest water is even where some oil wells are drilling.

[sevfiv]

yeah, and the term "brown water" actually means shallow water in maritime geography

[kjb434]

The pollution has nothing to do with the color of the water in galveston. It has more to do with the sediment load in the streams going in to the gulf at that point.

For example, in Gulf Shores Alabama, the water is a light brown. On beaches not to far away by Pensacola, the water is crystal clear. Mobile bay and the nearby rivers send lots of sediment by Gulfshores that Pensacola doesn't see.

Pretty much all of the Texas, Louisiana, Mississipi, and Alabama Coast are like this.

Florida has a mix between high sediment water and low sediment water depending on where your are.

[sevfiv]

i remember the beaches near destin, florida being very nice and clear...

so can we blame this on the mississippi river then?

[TJones]

i remember the beaches near destin, florida being very nice and clear...

so can we blame this on the mississippi river then?

I don't go beyond waist deep into that water. Can't see what's around me any further out.

[kjb434]

In Lousiana it's the Mississipi, Atchafalaya, Charles, Sabine, and Pearl Rivers.

Around Houston and Galveston is the San Jacinto, Brazos, Trinity Rivers and the many bayous into Galveston Bay that influence the water appearance.

There are many others as you further south down the coast.

Destin falls in a great spot on Florida's coast where it doesn't get much sediment load from streams.

[WesternGulf]

Believe it or not, these are the jelly fish infested waters off the coast of Galveston.