Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2009SC66B

Sediment Pollution Potential Assessment of Abandoned Developments Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Institute: South Carolina
Year Established: 2009 Start Date: 2009-03-01 End Date: 2011-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $46,386 Total Non-Federal Funds: $124,484

Principal Investigators: Elena Mikhailova, Christopher Post

Abstract: The current economic crisis has left numerous residential developments in the Southeastern United States in various states of construction. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of these development sites are currently graded and essentially abandoned. This has likely left bare soil surfaces exposed to the elements. An urgent research effort is needed to identify and access the potential impact of development sites that, while abandoned, could become a major source of sediment runoff to critical waterways and bodies. We propose to analyze satellite and high-resolution aerial imagery to 1) identify development locations with significant bare ground (and develop a protocol for doing this), 2) Use a GIS-integrated sediment prediction model to estimate the potential magnitude of erosion from each identified location, 3) combine this information with nearby critical water resources using GIS to identify locations that may require urgent attention, and 4) visit a random selection of these sites to validate our findings.