Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2006TX230B

Modeling the Effect of Urbanization and Optimizing Land Use For Estuarine Environmental Flows

Institute: Texas
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-03-01 End Date: 2007-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $4,790 Total Non-Federal Funds: $36,240

Principal Investigators: Debabrata Sahoo, Patricia Haan

Project Summary: Increasing urbanization as a consequence of an expanding population often occurs at the expense of land and water resources. Ecological changes such as increase in impermeable land surface can result. These changes may alter the regional hydrological cycle as well as alter the timing and magnitude of freshwater inflow to downstream estuaries. Freshwater inflow to estuaries is important to maintain their ecological, economic, and aesthetic integrity. Rapid changes in the San Antonio River Basin are of particular interest to the health of the San Antonio Bay System. The lack of knowledge on these processes is an important problem because without it, developing effective strategies for water management and ecological services for an increasing population is unlikely. However, remote sensing data from LANDSAT series satellites along with a hydrological model (HSPF) can be used effectively to quantify and understand these processes. Further, those processes can be modeled to aid in future water management decisions. A genetic algorithm will be used to automate the calibration process for hydrologic modeling that will increase the modeling efficiency. A genetic algorithm will also be used to determine the optimum land use distribution to provide enough water to meet both estuarine ecological needs and urban economic benefits.