W3 Seminar: Human and climate-driven water quality challenges affecting the Texas coast

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Michael Wetz, Professor, Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Abstract:
Coastal watersheds in Texas have experienced significant human population growth over the past several decades, yet there have been no comprehensive assessments of water quality trends in Texas estuaries. Here we synthesize results from analyses of several long-term water quality monitoring programs to answer the question, “How has water quality changed on the Texas coast?”. Results show localized examples of both increasing and decreasing salinity due to long-term changes in freshwater inflows, localized signatures of eutrophication in estuaries with urbanized or agricultural dominated watersheds, and regional fecal bacterial pollution at both a local and regional scale. With findings from this study, targeted studies can now be directed at the estuaries that are experiencing water quality degradation in order to elucidate drivers and identify solutions.