BaCon Makes Everything Better! Final Report

Ekaterina Troudonochina Julian Montejano Mark Hiler Veronica Gentile Team Manager Webmaster, GIS Analyst GIS Analyst Pwpt Designer, GIS Analyst Sizzling Speakers

I. Background II. Problem Statement III. Purpose IV. Scope V. Literature Review VI. Data VII. LULC VIII. Procedure IX. BASINS X. Results XI. Discussion XII. Conclusion Contents

Rapid growth of San Marcos Increase in construction, impervious cover  More runoff  Less infiltration  Non-point Source pollution Concern for Health of the Upper San Marcos River Watershed Goal is to maintain clean, clear water and prevent harm to native species and the human water uses. Background

Impervious Cover

Fountain Darter Texas Blind Salamander Texas Wild Rice Endangered Species

Team goal is to see if we can evaluate the impervious cover connected to the growth of the City of San Marcos and the San Marcos River Watershed. Must use Basins and HSPF Provide this research to the Meadows Center Problem Statement

To focus on protecting the San Marcos River comparing research in order to predict the potential harm of increased impervious cover Used collected data, research material, and geospatial technology Studied the impact of increased impervious cover in the Upper San Marcos River Watershed Created a website Purpose

All of the Upper San Marcos River Watershed going into the San Marcos River Spring Lake Until its confluence with the Blanco river Western city development through the year 2035 Scope

TCEQ and EPA standards: Provided data of current river characteristics San Marcos River is an Aquifer Protected Area Characteristics are historically consistent Learned important assumptions Literature Reviews

Fountain Darter and Turbidity: Small fish that inhabits the river bottom Local and recent study Clarity of water affects defense mechanisms of freezing Harms survival capability Literature Reviews

Wild Rice and Temperature: Long green strands growing in the upper San Marcos River Very fragile relationship 10 week study over affect on reproduction and vegetative capabilities Any decrease or increase in temperature is a potential threat Literature Reviews

Texas Blind Salamander: Researched since was one of our initial species of interest Basic data over it- 3.5 to 5.5 inches long with long skinny legs and a finned tail, translucent, blind, and senses for prey Data hard to come by because of its reclusive habitat Literature Reviews

Non-point Source Pollution in Large Basin: Similar study to our own Focused on the Rio Grande in the USA Used GIS to identify hydrological sensitive areas Categories: developed - low intensity, developed - high intensity, pasture, and cropland Soil erosion on water quality Literature Reviews

Acquisition successfully completed Most downloaded directly through BASINS National Hydrography Dataset plus (NHDplus) from Meadows Center Water quality guidelines from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Spatial data from Texas General Land Office and Texas State University Land Use Data for City of San Marcos from the Meadows Center Research finished on the species of interest Data

TCEQ Data

LULC Maps The land use and land cover data was at the core of our project. We decided to showcase the present and predicted LULC percentages in San Marcos in a couple of maps.

BASINS Training  Used a modeling program  Worked with HSPF  Issues  Affects on the project  Resolution National Hydrography Dataset Plus  Issues  Resolution

BASINS Example of delineation:

BASINS Example of delineation issue:

BASINS Successful map:

Data Analysis We applied information to ensure acceptable water standards  Wanted to ensure clean clear water  Used endangered species research Ran all obtained data through BASINS HSPF model several times in an attempt to obtain results. Data discovered for Sediment We compared the current to potential impervious cover for San Marcos 2035 We assessed the potential environmental impact

Flowchart

Results Technical difficulties, unforeseen barriers, and unfamiliarity with BASINS hindered the amount of results available through HSPF Derived sediment erosion data Tables produced showed an insignificant amount of sediment erosion change Slight lower amount of sediment removed in the preferred scenario

Results Column 1Column 2Column 3Column 4Column 5Column 6Column 7 ScenarioExist10 LocationI101I102I104I105I106I110 ConstituentSLDS ScenarioPREF10 LocationP101P102P104P105P106P110 ConstituentSLDS Example of Sediment Data :

Discussion Sediment as a characteristic in water quality  Connection to Literature Reviews  Relevance to projects problem statement, purpose, and goals. Team BaCon’s overall contribution

According to our research we realized that more time is needed to fully explore the impervious cover increase. Due to the Complexity of BASINS any future teams should consider allotting more time to mastering the program. Sediment has now been explored for the Future LULC plan and as of now is not seen as a threat. Conclusion