Hydrologic Trends in the Upper Nueces River Basin of Texas—Implications for Water Resource Management and Ecological Health

Hydrology

Victoria Chraibi¹  E.Dave Thomas²  Kartik Venkataraman³  Narayanan Kannan⁴ 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76402, USA;Department of Chemistry, Geosciences, and Physics, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76402, USA;Department of Engineering and Computer Science, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76402, USA;Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76402, USA;

关键词: ecologically significant streams;    stream discharge trends;    hydroclimatic analysis;    hydrological indicators;    streamflow variability;   

DOI  :  10.3390/hydrology6010020

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Reliable water sources are central to human and environmental health. In south Texas, USA, the Nueces River Basin (NRB) directly or indirectly plays that important role for many counties. Several NRB stream segments are designated as ecologically significant because they serve crucial hydrologic, ecologic, and biologic functions. The hydrologically significant streams recharge the Edwards Aquifer, an essential water source for the region’s agricultural, industrial, and residential activities. Unfortunately, the semiarid to arid south Texas climate leads to large inter-annual precipitation variability which impacts streamflow, and as a consequence, the aquifer’s recharge. In this study, we used a suite of hydrologic metrics to evaluate the NRB’s hydroclimatic trends and assess their potential impacts on the watershed’s ecologically significant stream segments using precipitation and streamflow data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and Hydroclimatic Data Network (HCDN) respectively from 1970 to 2014. The results consistently showed statistically significant decreasing streamflow for certain low-flow indicators over various temporal scales, likely due to water rights diversions and minimal land use changes. This research could help decision-makers develop the necessary tools to manage water resources in south Texas, given the NRB’s significance as a source of water for domestic consumption and ecological health.

【 授权许可】

Unknown