2019 Technical Reports

Authors: Emily Monroe, Lucas Gregory, Matthew McBroom, Jeremiah Poling

The Attoyac Bayou Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) was developed by the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Partnership in 2009 to address the bacteria impairment in the watershed. This report covers the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Protection Plan Implementation Effectiveness Monitoring and Facilitation project (#16-12), implemented by TWRI, Angelina & Neches River Authority, and Stephen F. Austin State University from October 2017 through September 2019. It was funded by a Clean Water Act 319(h) grant from the Texas State and Soil Water Conservation Board through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The goals of this project were to facilitate effective implementation of the Attoyac Bayou WPP, to engage local stakeholders and seek input on future activities, to encourage, track and assist with procuring financial assistance for adopting best management practices, and to coordinate and conduct relevant outreach and education activities in and around the watershed.

Authors: Anna Gitter, Luna Yang, Lucas Gregory

The Tributaries of the Neches River below Lake Palestine, collectively called the Middle Neches, includes four freshwater streams located near Lufkin, Texas. Three of the tributaries, including portions of Cedar Creek (0604A_02), Hurricane Creek (0604B_01) and Biloxi Creek (0604M_03), have all been identified to be impaired for elevated concentrations of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in the 2016 Texas Integrated Report of Surface Water Quality for the Clean Water Act Sections 305(b) and 303(d) (Texas Integrated Report). The fourth water body, Jack Creek (0604C_01), was listed in the Draft 2018 Texas Integrated Report as impaired for elevated bacteria concentrations. Of the four tributaries, Cedar Creek (0604A) and Biloxi Creek (0604M) directly discharge into the Neches River below Lake Palestine (0604). Elevated levels of E. coli have been identified in the Middle Neches watershed since as early as 2000. Initial work in the watershed has included supplemental water quality monitoring, stakeholder engagement and a characterization report of the watershed. Upcoming work includes public meetings, drafting a technical support document and stakeholder discussions for the future development of a Total Maximum Daily Load.

Authors: Victor Gutierrez, Lucas Gregory

This project began in 2016 and was a continued effort of previous agricultural education programs in the watershed. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service had prior programming that highlighted water quality issues in the Arroyo Colorado with guidance on how the agricultural community could aid in reducing pollutants. The focus of the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board Project 15-07, “Addressing Agricultural NPS Pollution in the Arroyo Colorado watershed through Continuing Education of Best Management Practices,” was to continue efforts to alleviate impairments in the Arroyo Colorado Watershed through educational programs and direct mailings targeted at controlling agricultural nonpoint source pollution. Texas Water Resources Institute and AgriLife Extension conducted educational programs within the three-county area of the Arroyo Colorado Watershed focused on best management practices, nutrient management, soil testing, and sources of financial and technical assistance.

Authors: Nathan Glavy

The Tres Palacios Creek is a rural coastal Texas water body that drains a watershed home to generations of farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and various communities. In 2006, water quality monitoring conducted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality indicated that fecal indicator bacteria levels and 24-hour dissolved oxygen levels were not meeting state water quality standards. To combat this issue, the Texas Water Resources Institute conducted efforts to review the Tres Palacios Creek’s land and water resources to gather adequate information to develop the Tres Palacios Creek Watershed Protection Plan. The goal of the Tres Palacios Creek Watershed Protection Plan is to restore water quality in the Tres Palacios Creek through long-term conservation and stewardship of the watershed’s resources. To assist with this goal, Texas Water Resources Institute secured the Coastal Management Program Cycle 22 funds to continue the Tres Palacios Creek Watershed Protection Plan implementation strategy efforts.

Authors: Stephanie deVilleneuve

The Mission and Aransas rivers are coastal Texas water bodies that are influenced by seawater from Mission and Copano Bays. In 2004, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) classified the tidal segments of the Mission and Aransas Rivers as impaired due to elevated bacteria levels. In 2013, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and TMDL Implementation Plan (I-Plan) were developed to address bacteria sources within the watersheds and in 2016, the documents were accepted by the TCEQ commissioners. With the completion of the I-plan, maintaining stakeholder connections and drawing in new participants is crucial to ensuring the I-Plan successful implementation. The Texas Water Resources Institute secured the Coastal Management Program Cycle 22 funds to facilitate implementation of the management measures outlined in the I-Plan, engage local stakeholders, expand educational programs, and assess water quality progress with the goal of improving water quality in the Mission and Aransas Rivers to meet established water quality standards.

Authors: Michael Schramm, Stephanie deVilleneuve, Shubham Jain, Allen Berthold and Uvashree Mohandass

The Carancahua Bay Watershed Protection Plan presents a strategy developed by local stakeholders to restore and protect water quality in Carancahua Bay and its tributaries. Carancahua Bay is on the 303(d) list due to elevated levels of indicator bacteria. Texas Water Resources Institute facilitated meetings and workgroup sessions with local stakeholders to identify potential bacteria load sources and prioritize locally feasible management measures. An 86% annual reduction of indicator bacteria loads is required to meet state water quality standards.

Full implementation of the management measures prioritized in this document could result in a reduction of 6.71 × 10⁵ billion colonies Enterococcus per year. In order to achieve these reductions, stakeholders identified a diverse set of management measures and schedule for implementation. This document provides stakeholder guidance for implementing, tracking progress, and measuring success towards achieving improved water quality in the Carancahua Bay Watershed.

Authors: Ralph Wurbs

The monthly Brazos WAM consists of the generalized Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) and input data for the Brazos River Basin and adjoining coastal basin from the statewide TCEQ Water Availability Modeling (WAM) System. The Brazos WAM simulates water resources development, allocation, management and use in accordance with the over 1,200 water rights permits in effect for the basin. Operations of 680 reservoirs are simulated. The daily version of the Brazos WAM documented by this report was created by converting the monthly WAM to daily, adding routing parameters for 67 selected river reaches, flood control operations of 19 Corps of Engineers reservoirs, and SB3 environmental flow standards at 19 gage sites. The hydrologic period-of-analysis was updated to extend from January 1940 through December 2017. Monthly naturalized stream flows at 77 primary gaged control points are distributed to over 3,000 ungauged control points within the simulation. Monthly naturalized flows are disaggregated to daily based on daily pattern hydrographs at 58 gaging stations. This report accompanies the WRAP simulation input files for daily and monthly versions of the Brazos WAM and relevant auxiliary data files.

The Brazos WAM represents the inaugural application of the expanded daily modeling capabilities incorporated in the July 2018 and May 2019 versions of WRAP. The Brazos case study development and application of a daily WAM contributed to improvements in the generalized WRAP modeling system. The first half of this report focuses on development of the daily Brazos WAM. Latter chapters explore case study comparative analyses of the various features of the simulation model and alternative options for performing different tasks. Monthly WRAP/WAM modeling is complex, and daily modeling is much more complex. This report provides guidelines and sets of recommended optional methods for developing manageable and effective strategies for employing the daily modeling system that are generally applicable for any river basin.

Daily WRAP/WAM modeling and analysis capabilities can significantly contribute to various types water management endeavors. The work documented by this report focuses on improving capabilities for incorporating Senate Bill 3 (SB3) environmental flow standards (EFS) in the TCEQ WAM System. A strategy is demonstrated in which daily instream flow targets for SB3 EFS are computed and summed to monthly quantities within the daily SIMD simulation for input to the monthly SIM simulation model. The monthly SIM simulation model is applied with the SB3 EFS modeled as instream flow IF record water rights with targets defined as target series TS records stored in an input file. Both a daily WAM dataset and a monthly WAM dataset with SB3 EFS added in this manner accompany this report.

Different strategies for employing the expanded WAM will be useful for different types of applications. With the strategy explored in this report, after SB3 EFS targets are established with the daily WAM, routine modeling applications employ the monthly WAM. SB3 EFS set-asides are incorporated in the monthly WAM, appropriately reducing the quantities of stream flow available for further appropriation by junior water users. The daily WAM can be employed directly in many other types of studies with input data varied in alternative daily SIMD simulations to explore various water management strategies and issues. For example, the daily model can be applied directly in the formulation, evaluation, and improvement of environmental flow standards to assess capabilities (reliabilities) of satisfying proposed alternative sets of flow standards. The daily simulation modeling capabilities can also support various types of studies in which operation of reservoirs during and after floods is a significant concern.

Authors: Clare Entwistle Escamilla, Xiao Shen, Michael Schramm and Lucas Gregory

The Mid and Lower Cibolo Creek Watershed Protection Plan presents the strategy developed by the stakeholders of the Mid and Lower Cibolo Creek watershed to restore water quality in the creek such that it meets applicable water quality standards. The Mid and Lower Cibolo Creek watershed stakeholders dedicated considerable time and effort in discussing the watershed, its influences on water quality, potential means to improve the watershed and water quality, and in selecting management strategies appropriate for inclusion in the watershed plan.

The Mid and Lower Cibolo Creek is a mixed rural and urban watershed located east of San Antonio. The watershed is predominately rural with a highly developed urban area emerging near the I-35 and I-10 corridors. However, with the increase of residential development and suburbanization, as well as increased hydraulic fracturing activity associated with the Eagle Ford Shale formation, the ecological health of the water body within this region is facing rising potential threat.

Authors: Ralph A. Wurbs

The Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) is documented by a Reference Manual, Users Manual, and several auxiliary manuals including this Hydrology Manual. This Hydrology Manual focuses specifically on the WRAP computer program HYD. The purpose of HYD is to facilitate developing hydrology-related monthly time series input data for the WRAP simulation models SIM and SIMD. This Hydrology Manual explains HYD methodologies and the use of HYD with HEC-DSSVue and the other WRAP programs. The Hydrology Manual is written assuming that the reader is already familiar with the WRAP Reference and Users Manuals.

Authors: Ralph A. Wurbs, Richard J. Hoffpauir

WRAP is a generalized modeling system providing flexible capabilities for analyzing river/reservoir system water resources development, management, control, allocation, and use. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Water Availability Modeling (WAM) System combines WRAP with input datasets for the river basins of the state. The WRAP modeling system documented by the Reference and Users Manuals [1, 2] was originally developed based on a monthly computational time step. The TCEQ WAM System WRAP input datasets were developed and are routinely applied using a monthly time step.

This Daily Manual documents an expanded version of WRAP that performs computations at an interval of one day and provides additional features for simulating flood control reservoir operations and environmental pulse flow standards.

Suggested Citation

Wurbs, R.A. and Hoffpauir, R.J. Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) Daily Modeling System, TWRI TR-430, 3rd Edition, 342 pages, May 2019.

Authors: Ralph A. Wurbs

Water resources development, water allocation, and river/reservoir system operations are simulated with the Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) using sequences of historical naturalized stream flows and reservoir surface net evaporation less precipitation rates to represent river basin hydrology. The generalized simulation modeling system is used to assess hydrologic and institutional water availability and reliability in satisfying requirements for environmental instream flows, water supply diversions, hydroelectric energy generation, and reservoir storage.

This Fundamentals Manual serves as an introductory tutorial helping new users to apply the modeling system quickly for simpler water availability modeling applications. With this example-centered abbreviated manual covering only select features, within a few hours, first-time users can become proficient in fundamental aspects of applying WRAP. The Fundamentals Manual also provides a quick reference to basics for experienced users. The basics covered in the Fundamentals Manual are fundamental for any WRAP application and represent all of the capabilities needed for many applications.

Suggested Citation

Wurbs, R.A. Fundamentals of Water Availability Modeling with WRAP, TWRI TR-283, 9th Edition, 116 pages, May 2019.

Authors: Ralph A. Wurbs

The Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) modeling system simulates management of the water resources of a river basin or region under priority-based water allocation systems. In WRAP terminology, river/reservoir system water management requirements and capabilities are called water rights. The modeling system facilitates assessments of hydrologic and institutional water availability and reliability in satisfying requirements for instream flows, water supply diversions, hydroelectric energy generation, and reservoir storage.

This Users Manual provides the operational logistics for applying the WRAP programs SIM, SIMD, and TABLES by explaining the organization of input and output files and the content and format of input records.

Suggested Citation

Wurbs, R.A. Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) Modeling System Users Manual, TWRI TR-256, 12th Edition, 273 pages, May 2019.

Authors: Ralph A. Wurbs

The Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) modeling system simulates management of the water resources of a river basin or region under priority-based water allocation systems. In WRAP terminology, river/reservoir system water management requirements and capabilities are called water rights. The modeling system facilitates assessments of hydrologic and institutional water availability and reliability in satisfying requirements for instream flows, water supply diversions, hydroelectric energy generation, and reservoir storage.

This Reference Manual describes the concepts and methods employed in WRAP, focusing on monthly modeling.

Suggested Citation

Wurbs, R.A. Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) Modeling System Reference Manual, TWRI TR-255, 12th Edition, 462 pages, May 2019.