Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair

Omar I. Abdul-Aziz

Committee Co-Chair

Radhey Sharma

Committee Member

Radhey Sharma

Committee Member

Kakan Dey

Abstract

Changes in climatic and land use drivers typically drive stormwater runoff quantity and quality. This study focuses on determining the stormwater runoff sensitivities to variation in climatic and land cover changes in a coastal natural-urban basin. A mechanistic hydrologic model was developed for the Spring San Jacinto Basin (SSJB) of Texas, USA considering the basin as a pilot study area by using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Storm Water Management Model 5.2. The SSJB drains an area of 1949 km2 ultimately into the northern Gulf of Mexico, USA through peripheral neighborhoods of the Greater Houston area. The model represented locally relevant (e.g., neighborhood-scale) fine spatio-temporal resolutions. The model was calibrated and validated with historically observed streamflow data for 2020. Climatic and land cover variables such as rainfall, evapotranspiration, and imperviousness were perturbed by −30% to +30% (with an increment of 10%) from their average baseline values during 2020s. Basin stormwater runoff showed overall strong and differential seasonal sensitivities to the changes in rainfall. In contrast, runoff had a low sensitivity to the similar perturbations in evapotranspiration. Further, moderately strong sensitivities of runoff were noted towards the changes in the key land cover of surface imperiousness. The quantified sensitivities would guide stormwater management in coastal-natural environments under a changing climate and land use/cover in the U.S. and beyond.

Embargo Reason

Publication Pending

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Available for download on Wednesday, May 01, 2024

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