| Title: | Effects of urbanization and climate change on stream health in the north central Texas, USA |
| Authors: | Jeong, J., N. Kannan and J.G. Arnold |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Journal: | Journal of Environmental Quality |
| Volume (Issue): | 43(1) |
| Pages: | 100-109 |
| Article ID: | |
| DOI: | 10.2134/jeq2011.0345 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | hydrologic only |
| Primary Application Category: | climate change and land use change |
| Secondary Application Category: | model and/or data interface |
| Watershed Description: | 169 km^2 White Rock Creek in north central Texas, U.S. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | This article is part of the JEQ SWAT special section. |
| Abstract: | Estimation of stream health involves the analysis of changes in aquatic species, riparian
vegetation, micro-invertebrates and channel degradation due to hydrologic changes
occurring from anthropogenic activities. In this study, we quantified stream health
changes arising from urbanization and climate change using a combination of the widely
accepted Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) and Dundee Hydrologic Regime
Assessment Method (DHRAM) on a rapidly urbanized watershed in Dallas-Fort worth
metropolitan area in Texas, USA. Historical flow data were split into two parts, namely
pre-alteration and post-alteration periods. The influence of climate change on stream
health was analyzed by dividing the precipitation data into three groups of dry, average
and wet conditions based on recorded annual precipitation. Hydrologic indicators were
then evaluated for all three of the climate scenarios to estimate the stream health changes
brought by climate change. The effect of urbanization on stream health was analyzed for
a specific sub-watershed where urbanization occurred dramatically but no stream flow
data was available using the widely used watershed scale Soil and Water Assessment
Tool (SWAT) model. The results of this study identify negative impacts to stream health
with increasing urbanization. In addition, the results indicate that dry weather has more
impact on stream health than wet weather. The IHA-DHRAM approach and SWAT model
prove to be useful tools to estimate stream health at watershed scale. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | |