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Browsing Centers and Institutes by Author "Arismendez, Sandra"
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Item Cypress Creek Flow Study: Blanco and Travis Counties, Texas(2021-01) Wierman, Douglas A.; Walker, Jenna; Arismendez, Sandra; Schlandt, Allyson; Navarro, Aspen; Vasquez, DanielThe Texas Hill Country is a unique place known for its stunning spring fed creeks, limestone bluffs, soaring cypress trees, and expansive scenic views. Over the past several years, the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment has been working to answer the question – How much water is in the Hill Country? Although this seems like a straightforward question that merits a straightforward answer, the reality is that the largely hidden and unknown complexities of Hill Country hydrogeology make it challenging to answer. Building upon the “How Much Water is in the Pedernales?” research, The Meadows Center teamed up with the Colorado River Land Trust to direct this question towards Cypress Creek, a significant tributary that joins the Pedernales River before it meets Lake Travis. The Cypress Creek watershed is currently made up of mostly ranchlands with steady spring flows and good water quality. Gaining a greater understanding of these types of natural systems and the interconnectedness between surface and groundwater allows for informed water planning, wise water policy and the health of Hill Country springs, streams, and rivers in the future.Item Krause Springs Occurrence of Flowing Water, Burnet County, Texas(2021-01) Wierman, Douglas A.; Walker, Jenna; Arismendez, Sandra; Schlandt, Allyson; Navarro, Aspen; Vasquez, DanielThe Hill Country is a unique region of Texas where rivers and springs rise out of a complex system of multiple and overlapping aquifer systems. Over the past several years, the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment has been working to answer the question – How much water is in the Hill Country? Although this seems like a straightforward question that merits a straightforward answer, the reality is that the largely hidden and unknown complexities of Hill Country hydrogeology make it challenging to answer. The Meadows Center teamed up with the Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District (CTGCD) to direct this question towards Little Cypress Creek, Krause Springs, and the surrounding aquifers, a small but significant tributary of the Colorado River that flows into Lake Travis. Multiple aquifers contribute to base flow in Little Cypress Creek, but there is a lack of research and awareness about the contributing and recharge zones within the system. The Little Cypress Creek watershed is currently made up of mostly undeveloped land use with steady spring flows and good water quality. The goal of this study is to collect data to characterize these types of natural systems and the interconnectedness between surface and groundwater. Such data are important for water planning, policy, and the health of Hill Country springs, streams, and rivers. The focus of this study performed by the Meadows Center and CTGCD was on the stream gains and losses and a synoptic groundwater (water level) map focused around Krause Springs. The data allows for a better understanding of Little Cypress Creek’s flow moving downstream and where there are gaining and losing reaches where surface water recharges the underlying aquifers. The results of this research contribute valuable insight towards strategic conservation prioritization and sustainable water resource management.Item Texas Beach Watch Program Water Quality Data Summary Report(2021-06) Arismendez, Sandra; Dornak, D. Nicholas; Parchman, LauraThe Texas Beach Watch (TBW) Program monitors enterococci bacteria at 169 bay and gulf recreational beaches in ten counties along the Texas Gulf coast. This project analyzed TBW data temporally and spatially to identify problematic areas, conducted trend analysis and identified environmental factors that may be affecting water quality. This investigation included: • site-specific analyses to determine fecal indicator bacteria suitability by comparing enterococci data with recreational beach criteria using the USEPA single sample beach action value (104 cfu/100 ml), TCEQ geometric mean (35 cfu/100ml), and TCEQ percent exceedance of BAV assessment criteria (<25% = fully supporting, 20-25% = concern and fully supporting, > 25% = not supporting); • spatial and temporal analyses by geographic group (upper, middle, lower Texas coast), beach type (bay or gulf), season (peak or non-peak), station (169 stations) and county (10 Texas counties); • temporal trend analysis of percent BAV exceedances by beach type (bay or gulf), collectively for all counties, and at the upper detection limit of the laboratory analytical enumeration method used for analysis of water samples for enterococci bacteria over time; • correlation analyses with available environmental data sources at selected sites within counties with the highest percent exceedances of the recreational beach criteria;Item Texas Stream Team Final Report (1a): Contract #18-80175(2020-05) Arismendez, Sandra; Austin-Bingamon, Eryl; Campos, Claudia; Lobban, Meagan; Navarro, Aspen; Walker, JennaMarch 2019 to March 2020 has been an ambitious year for Texas Stream Team at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment (the Meadows Center). Throughout the past year it has been the goal of Texas Stream Team to increase the accessibility, accuracy, and availability of our program resources to all our partners and stakeholders across Texas. Texas Stream Team staff have been working to streamline organizational policies and procedures, provide our partners and citizen scientists with updated training and monitoring resources, update and enhance the Texas Stream Team Waterways Dataviewer database, increase education and outreach efforts, and many other activities included in this report. Texas Stream Team is dedicated to involving Texans in the process of citizen science and environmental stewardship. In the past year, Texas Stream Team staff and partners have led 101 trainings, certifying 733 citizen scientists. Of these citizen scientists, 51 are actively monitoring. Among existing citizen scientists, 170 sites were actively monitored, and 85 new sites were established. In the past year, Texas Stream Team citizen scientists dedicated 3,672 hours to volunteer efforts. To further engage the public in water and environmental stewardship, Texas Stream Team attended 30 Education and Outreach events, one Teacher Workshop event, and established seven new partnerships. Within the past year, Texas Stream Team added two new team members to the program, Aspen Navarro and Dr. Sandra Arismendez. Aspen Navarro is the Program Coordinator, acting as the primary liaison for Texas Stream Team inquires, helping with outreach and training materials, scheduling all Texas Stream Team activities, and assists with providing statewide trainings. Dr. Sandra Arismendez is the Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator, acting as the primary contact for all monitoring and equipment inquiries, overseeing all Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs), helping with training materials, and assists with providing statewide trainings. In May 2019 Texas Stream Team was honored with the Texas Environmental Excellence Award for the Civic/Community category by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The 2019 winners of the Texas Environmental Excellence Awards were celebrated at an award reception and banquet on May 15, 2019, hosted by the commissioners for the TCEQ at the Austin Convention Center. Texas Stream Team was honored to receive this award as a recognition for bringing together numerous partners and thousands of citizen scientist to monitor and protect water quality across Texas. This report will elaborate on short-term and long-term goals of the past year, as well as information on recent Texas Stream Team projects. During the past year, Texas Stream Team valued the opportunity to grow alongside our partners and citizen scientists and we look forward to another year of ambitious water and environmental stewardship.Item Texas Stream Team Final Report (1B): Contract #18-80175(2021-08) Arismendez, Sandra; Austin-Bingamon, Eryl; Campos, Claudia; Huff, Anna; Lobban, Meagan; Navarro, Aspen; Neal, Alexander; Parchman, Laura; Walker, Jenna; Vasquez, DanielThe past three years have been a period of intense organizational growth at Texas Stream Team at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment (the Meadows Center). Throughout the contract period (March 1st, 2018 – February 28th, 2019; April 1st, 2020 – February 28th, 2021) it has been the goal of Texas Stream Team to increase the accuracy and availability of our program resources to our partners and stakeholders across Texas. Texas Stream Team staff have been working through challenges posed by staff turnover and COVID-19 restrictions to streamline organizational policies and procedures, provide trainings, update monitoring resources, enhance the Texas Stream Team Waterways Dataviewer database, diversify education and outreach efforts, and many other activities that are included in this report. Texas Stream Team is dedicated to involving Texans in the process of citizen science and environmental stewardship. Throughout this contract reporting period, Texas Stream Team staff and partners led 124 trainings, certifying 583 citizen scientists. Of these citizen scientists, 257 are actively monitoring. Among existing citizen scientists, 195 sites were actively monitored, and 182 new sites were established. In the past year, Texas Stream Team citizen scientists dedicated 19,219 hours to volunteer efforts. To further engage the public in water and environmental stewardship, Texas Stream Team attended 280 Education and Outreach events, one Teacher Workshop event, and established three new partnerships. Within the contract reporting period, Texas Stream Team has added two new full-time team members to the program, Aspen Navarro and Dr. Sandra Arismendez. Aspen Navarro is the Program Coordinator, acting as the primary liaison for Texas Stream Team inquires, project management, helping with outreach and training materials, scheduling all Texas Stream Team activities, and assisting with statewide trainings. Dr. Sandra Arismendez is the Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator, acting as the primary contact for all monitoring and equipment inquiries, overseeing all Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs), helping with training materials, and assisting with statewide trainings. This report will elaborate on short-term and long-term goals of the contract period, as well as information on recent and upcoming Texas Stream Team projects. Throughout the period of March 2018 – February 2019 and April 2020 - February 2021, Texas Stream Team has valued the opportunity to grow alongside our partners and citizen scientists and we look forward to ambitiously pursuing water and environmental stewardship in the next upcoming contract period.Item Upper San Marcos River Watershed Annual Water Quality Data Summary and Analysis Report FY20(2020-09) Arismendez, SandraIn September 2018, the nine-element Upper San Marcos River Watershed Protection Plan (USMR WPP) was approved by US Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The USMR WPP sought to reduce water resource concerns by addressing water quality and quantity issues in the Upper San Marcos River Watershed. The plan addresses the 2010 TCEQ CWA§303(d) listed impairment for total dissolved solids (TDS), and additional parameters including E. coli, nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants associated with growth and development in the watershed. The TCEQ, through its Texas Water Quality Standards, designates appropriate uses for the state’s surface waters including aquatic life, recreation, and sources of public water supply. The criteria for evaluating support of those uses include dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, TDS, toxic substances, and bacteria. The USMR consistently has better water quality than the state’s water quality standards and screening levels. For this reason and because of the river’s unique groundwater driven system, stakeholders developed water quality goals that were more stringent than the state’s standards as part of the USMR WPP (Table 1). Adverse effects on water quality resulting from urbanization and development within the USMR Watershed have been observed. Changes in water quality in the watershed are likely due to seasonal and annual climate variability, nonpoint source pollution (NPS), recharge and spring flow, and changes in land use and/or management. Issues of concern include excess sediment, high bacteria concentrations, and occasionally very high nutrient levels. Nutrient levels indicate potential NPS’s of pollution including pet and animal waste, excess fertilizer application, and poorly performing septic systems. As more people move to the area, the watershed becomes burdened with increased stormwater runoff and pollutant loadings. TCEQ designated the Upper San Marcos River (Segment 1814) a classified freshwater stream extending from a point 1.0 km (0.6 mi) upstream of the confluence of the Blanco River in Hays County to a point 0.7 km (0.4 mi) upstream of Loop 82 in San Marcos in Hays County including Spring Lake. The segment is in the Guadalupe River Basin in the central Texas hill country and the Upper San Marcos River watershed (Figure 1). This report is being prepared to fulfill Task 6.3 Annual Water Quality Data Summary and Analysis Report for the Upper San Marcos River Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) Implementation TCEQ contract (#582-18-80176). The purpose of this task deliverable is to analyze surface, storm, and ground water quality data collected by watershed partners to determine changes and trends in water quality over time as the management measures described in the WPP are implemented.