BaCon Makes Everything Better! Final Report. Ekaterina Troudonochina Julian Montejano Mark Hiler Veronica Gentile Team Manager Webmaster, GIS Analyst.

BaCon Makes Everything Better!

Final Report

Sizzling Speakers

I. BackgroundII. Problem

StatementIII. PurposeIV. ScopeV. Literature

ReviewVI. DataVII. LULCVIII. ProcedureIX. BASINS X. ResultsXI. DiscussionXII. Conclusion

• Rapid growth of San Marcos• Increase in construction, impervious cover

More runoffLess infiltrationNon-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.

•Fountain Darter

•Texas Blind Salamander

•Texas Wild Rice

•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

• 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

•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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• TrainingUsed a modeling programWorked with HSPF Issues Affects on the projectResolution

• National Hydrography Dataset PlusIssuesResolution

BASINSExample of delineation:

BASINSExample of delineation issue:

BASINSSuccessful map:

•We applied information to ensure acceptable water standards

Wanted to ensure clean clear waterUsed 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 potentialenvironmental impact

•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

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7

Scenario Exist10 Exist10 Exist10 Exist10 Exist10 Exist10

Location I101 I102 I104 I105 I106 I110

Constituent SLDS SLDS SLDS SLDS SLDS SLDS

2004 0.0029 0.0029 0.0029 0.0029 0.0029 0.0029

2005 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558

Scenario PREF10 PREF10 PREF10 PREF10 PREF10 PREF10

Location P101 P102 P104 P105 P106 P110

Constituent SLDS SLDS SLDS SLDS SLDS SLDS

2004 0.00273 0.00273 0.00273 0.00273 0.00273 0.00273

2005 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558 0.00558

Example of Sediment Data:

• Sediment as a characteristic in water quality

Connection to Literature ReviewsRelevance 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.