TR-455

TR-455 Attoyac Bayou GIS Inventory, Source Survey and Land Use Cover Report

Authors: N. Boitnott, A. Castilaw, L. Gregory, K. Wagner

The Attoyac Bayou watershed is one of many rural watersheds included in the Texas Water Quality Inventory and 303(d) List as an impaired water body due to excessive E. coli levels. In many cases the assessed data in these waterbodies is limited and information regarding potential sources of pollution or other factors that may influence the presence of pollutant sources is not readily available.

To address this need, a comprehensive geographic information system (GIS) inventory of the watershed will be developed and will integrate numerous existing information resources into a single location. Generally, the GIS will illustrate waterbodies, roadways, permitted point-source dischargers, and other points of concern. Additionally, current land use/land cover (LULC) maps for the watershed will be updated. Existing LULC layers will be utilized as a starting point and will be re-delineated utilizing groundtruthed data points collected for the GIS inventory to verify the accuracy of the LULC map. Through the development of the GIS and update of the LULC maps, a physical source survey will also be conducted across the watershed to document the primary sources of bacteria in the watershed.