Title

The State of the Protection of Freshwater Inflow to the Bays and Estuaries of Texas, 2003

Document Type

Thesis

Comments

Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Applied Geography, August 2004.

Thesis Advisor:
Dr. James R. Kimmel

Committee Members:
Dr. Richard Earl
Dr. Joanna Curran

Approved:
Dr. J. Michael Willoughby, Dean of the Graduate College

Abstract

Freshwater inflow to the bays and estuaries of Texas is considered essential to maintain their biological productivity. The reduced salinity of the estuaries is necessary for the juvenile stage of many marine species. More than 90 percent of fish harvested along the coast are dependent on estuaries for some part of their life cycle. Anthropogenic changes such as diversions and reservoirs increasingly affect the quantity and timing of freshwater entering the bays and estuaries.

The protection of freshwater inflows in Texas is a complex process with many components. Lawmakers, citizens, water planners, water administrators and commissioners of state agencies need a better understanding of all aspects of this complex subject. A thorough examination of the current state of protection will facilitate an analysis of the effectiveness of protection of the state's estuaries. This document examines the major components of protection at the state and federal levels including laws, agencies, water rights, water plans, and bay and estuary studies, both from an administrative and a quantitative perspective. From this analysis it is possible to determine the amount, if any, of freshwater inflow that is protected by the system.

The system of protection is fragmented and not well-defined. Three state agencies share partial responsibilities for inflow protection with no real central authority. Rivers are managed with little emphasis on estuaries, water rights are granted without well-defined freshwater inflow protection formulas, and water plans are made using different protection criteria than those used for appropriations of water or the bay and estuary studies. The water planning and appropriation areas are dominated by the water users with little input from conservationists and others concerned about adequate inflows for healthy bays and estuaries. Currently the state does not have a complete set of tools to deal with all of the aspects of inflow protection even were there a will to do so. This document recommends several specific research projects to improve the system of protection:

* Comparative examination of the water planning criteria with the recommended flows of the bay and estuary studies.

* Analysis of the amount of freshwater inflows protected since the 1985 requirements for protection were instigated.

* Determination of the effects of reservoir management on freshwater inflow timing.

* Review of the Water Availability Model and its assumptions related to groundwater and pre-anthropogenic flows.

* Analysis of the effects of maximum permitted and proposed water use on estuarine productivity repeated with every five year planning cycle.

* Establishment of a minimum freshwater inflow protection system that applies to low-flow situations while protecting the productivity of the estuaries.

* It is hoped that this analysis will provide a platform for continuing scrutiny of the freshwater inflow protection system in Texas, leading to ongoing positive adaptive management of sustainable environmental flows for the bays and estuaries.