Water Quality/BASINSMid-Project Update

Tony Vessa

Nov. 19, 2002

Project Goals

– Better understand GIS tools in water quality assessment

– Understand City of Austin’s impact on water quality on the Lower Colorado River

– Full utilization of the EPA BASINS 3.0 software

http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/basins/

BASINS Objectives

• To facilitate examination of environmental information

• To support analysis of environmental systems

• To provide a framework for examining management alternatives

BASINS Benefits specific to GIS

• Data subdivided into familiar HUCs

• Data completely compatible with ArcGIS

• Provides shapefiles for basemaps projected in NAD1927

• Provides various downloadable data for environmental analysis

Hydrologic Unit Code

Austin, TX Hydrologic Unit

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HUC12090205

Austin

Data Available

• HUC/State/EPA/ County Boundaries

• Urban Boundaries• Drinking Water

Supplies• Weather Stations

Data • TRI Data• CERCLIS(Superfund)

• River Reach Files• Major Roads• Ecoregions (level III)• NAWQA Study Units• Mineral Data• Water Quality

Observation Stations• digital elevation maps• RCRIS Sites

Area Designations

EPA RegionVI

StateTX

COUNTIESBurnetLlanoHaysTravis

Williamson

City AttributesRiver Reach (rf1)Roads (fhards)Urban Outline (urban)

Austin

Point Stations

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Water Quality Observation SitesUSGS SitesTRI Sites

Water Quality Data

• Temp• Spec Conductance• DO, BOD• Alkalinity, Hardness• Nutrients (Nit, Pho)• Hardness• Chloride• Metals (Cr, Cu, Pb,

Ca, Fe, Ni, Ag, Zn, Al)

• Chlordane• Chlorophyll• DDE, DDT• Eldrin/Dieldrin• Heptachlor• Pcbs• Mercury• Sulfate

Water Quality Statistics

• 4 Year Increments

• Station ID

• Agency ID

• Number of Observations

• Mean

• 15th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th Percentiles

• Standard Deviation

Water Quality Criteria

• Parameter Name

• CAS Number

• Fresh Acute/Chronic

• Marine Acute/Chronic

• Drinking Water

• Human Health

• Reference Level Source

Wrap Up

• BASINS -one stop shopping

• Project Direction

• Questions????