page_title: Estuaries of Texas
section_title: Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary
hierarchical_section_title: Estuaries of Texas / Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary
caption_attribution_description: English: The Coast Guard Cutter Manowar passes the Battleship Texas and San Jacinto Monument as it patrols the Houston Ship Channel, August 3, 2016. The Manowar is an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Galveston, Texas. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Dustin R. Williams VIRIN = 160803-G-CZ043-121
context_page_description: The U.S. state of Texas has a series of estuaries along its coast on the Gulf of Mexico, most of them bounded by the Texas barrier islands. Estuaries are coastal bodies of water in which freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from the sea. Twenty-one drainage basins terminate along the Texas coastline, forming a chain of seven major and five minor estuaries: listed from southwest to northeast, these are the Rio Grande Estuary, Laguna Madre, the Nueces Estuary, the Mission–Aransas Estuary, the Guadalupe Estuary, the Colorado–Lavaca Estuary, East Matagorda Bay, the San Bernard River and Cedar Lakes Estuary, the Brazos River Estuary, Christmas Bay, the Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary, and the Sabine–Neches Estuary. Each estuary is named for its one or two chief contributing rivers, excepting Laguna Madre, East Matagorda Bay, and Christmas Bay, which have no major river sources. The estuaries are also sometimes referred to by the names of their respective primary or central water bodies, though each also includes smaller secondary bays, inlets, or other marginal water bodies.
context_section_description: The Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary is located on the northeastern Texas coast in Chambers, Harris, Galveston, and Brazoria Counties, adjoining the city of Houston. It is formed by the confluence of the Trinity and San Jacinto Rivers, separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula and connecting with it through Rollover Pass, Bolivar Roads, and San Luis Pass. The Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary is the largest of the Texas estuaries, with a surface area of 345,280 acres (139,730 ha) including Galveston Bay and its extensions in East Bay to the east, Trinity Bay to the northeast, West Bay to the southwest, and several smaller bays and inlets. The natural portions of the estuary have mean low-water depths ranging from 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m).
  The Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary is almost surrounded by the Greater Houston urban area, and its shores are relatively urbanized and industrialized, especially to the west. Other significant settlements on the shores include Baytown, Texas City, and Galveston. The estuary is a major shipping center, the heart of the Houston Ship Channel, and the Port of Houston, Port of Texas City, and Port of Galveston drive much economic activity on the waterways. Petrochemical industries are concentrated along the western shore, and the estuary also supports Texas's largest commercial fishery. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has designated the Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary system as an estuary of national significance under the National Estuary Program. Portions of the northeastern shore are protected within the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. The museum ship USS Texas is moored in the mouth of the San Jacinto River at the northwest end of the estuary, next to the San Jacinto Monument.
caption: The San Jacinto Monument and USS Texas by the Houston Ship Channel in Galveston Bay
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