Established in 2001, Bayou City Waterkeeper (BCWK) has a long history of working for the Lower Galveston Bay Watershed. BCWK – formerly Galveston Baykeeper – was founded out of the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association to address industrialization along Galveston Bay.

In June 2017, Galveston Baykeeper formally changed its name to Bayou City Waterkeeper to better reflect the work we do across the Lower Galveston Bay watershed, as well as demonstrate our connection and dedication to the health of bayous and waterways that connect to the Bay and Gulf of Mexico.

For 17 years, Bayou City Waterkeeper has focused its efforts in three main areas: (1) wetland protection; (2) regional and local stormwater permits and infrastructure; and, (3) water quality concerns and compliance under the Clean Water Act.

Historically, our water quality activities have included a Citizen Wetland Watch Program to watchdog the US Army Corps of Engineers in its enforcement activities, an active illicit-discharge monitoring program, and an initiative to educate local governments on ways that wetland mitigation can be used to increase local green space. We continue this work by actively using advocacy, education, research, communication, cooperation, monitoring and legal actions to protect and preserve the Lower Galveston Bay watershed and its waterways.

Clean Water >
We work for a future where our children can enjoy clean water, no matter where they live; where waterways are free of toxic chemicals and pollution; and where all our communities are safer, healthier places to live and work.

Protecting Wetlands >
Our laws protect the beautiful natural spaces that protect and strengthen our landscape. Bayou City Waterkeeper enforces those laws to protect what we know to be important wild places for this and future generations.

Resilient Communities >
As we prepare for future environmental challenges, Bayou City Waterkeeper is working to improve the protections afforded by nature by encouraging investment in blue-green infrastructure, land preservation, and other measures.

To accomplish its mission and lead from within, Bayou City Waterkeeper must be responsive to the needs of the community we serve. To that end, we are committed to embracing differences in race, gender, ethnicity, class, ability, religion and sexual orientation. We value people of all experiences, backgrounds and perspectives, and are dedicated to an organizational culture based on respect, inclusiveness, integrity, honesty and anti-oppression. We hold these values to ensure that marginalized and oppressed communities receive our attention and services when confronted with environmental issues.

We commit to celebrating diversity, working for justice, and advocating for equity in all we do.

• We believe justice, diversity, and equity are essential to our mission: Inclusion fosters the involvement of all persons and organizations that share our vision for a healthy planet.
• Environmental justice and equity-based values elevates the truth that everyone has the right to experience nature and have access to clean water, clean air, clean soil, and a safe environment.

We acknowledge that in order to be a truly diverse and inclusive organization we must exercise commitment to these goals within issue advocacy, our governance, and our internal and external relationships. We strive to be accessible and inclusive. Our vision is for our staff, leaders, volunteers, and supporters to reflect the diversity of our region. We are committed to recruit, engage, support and cultivate leadership from all communities in our work and activities. In an ongoing effort, we will build and integrate our commitment to diversity and inclusion into our conservation initiatives, program strategies, outreach, workforce, structure, budget, governance, communications and the overall culture of the organization.