A University of Texas at Arlington hydrology researcher will gather historic knowledge about the Brazos River Basin to assist the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) make far-reaching choices about securing water provides for Texas’ rising inhabitants.
Yu Zhang, a UT Arlington affiliate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, will use a $100,000 TWDB grant to collect information from the Nineteen Forties to the current about the Brazos River Basin.
“The Brazos River Basin contains several fast-growing regions in the state of Texas. Securing water supply for the growing population has been a major challenge,” Zhang mentioned. “In the upper portion of the basin, there have been indications of declining runoff yields over several decades. This declining yield has raised concerns about future water availability among regional stakeholders.”
The Brazos River Basin runs from close to the Texas Panhandle to the Texas coast, encompassing all or a part of 70 Texas counties throughout 42,000 sq. miles. Included inside its boundaries are cities comparable to Lubbock, Waco, Temple, Belton, Georgetown, Round Rock, Bryan-College Station, Freeport and Galveston and tributary rivers like the Double Mountain, Salt and Clear Forks, Paluxy, Bosque, Nolan, Little, and Navasota.
Much of the state is experiencing distinctive drought, excessive drought or extreme drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor’s three most harmful circumstances. In truth, greater than 96% of Texas will be categorized in certainly one of the monitor’s 5 classes (the remaining two being reasonable drought and abnormally dry circumstances).
Zhang mentioned the examine will examine potential bodily drivers of the downward traits in streamflow in the Upper Brazos. These might embody adjustments in the temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation, seasonality of main precipitation occasions, land floor, decrease-atmospheric temperature and land cowl.
Ali Abolmaali, chair and professor of the Department of Civil Engineering, mentioned Zhang’s work might affect the place water is collected, saved and used to gas Texas’ future progress.
“It’s imperative that decision-makers receive accurate data and subsequent recommendations for Texas’ future water needs,” Abolmaali mentioned. “Dr. Zhang is collecting that vital and needed data for those who have to make the tough decisions on water.”