Watershed Characteristics in the Sarasota Bay Watershed, Florida
Project Chief: George R. Kish
Cooperator: Sarasota Bay Estuary Program
Period of Project: October 2005 – September 2007
Problem Statement
The changing land use in the Sarasota Bay watershed.
Population growth during the last 50 years has transformed the Sarasota Bay watershed from rural and agriculture to urban and suburban. The transition has resulted in land-use changes that influence surface- and groundwater processes in the watershed. Increased impervious cover decreases recharge to groundwater and increases overland runoff and the pollutants carried in the runoff. Soil compaction resulting from agriculture, construction, and recreation activities also decreases recharge to groundwater.
Conventional approaches to managing stormwater runoff have involved conveyances and large storage areas. Low-impact development approaches, designed to provide recharge near the precipitation point-of-contact, are being used increasingly in the watershed.
Simple pollutant loading models applied to the Sarasota Bay watershed have focused on large-scale processes and pollutant loads determined from empirical values and mean event concentrations. Complex watershed models and more intensive data-collection programs can provide the level of information needed to quantify (1) the effects of lot-scale land practices on runoff, storage, and groundwater recharge, (2) dry and wet season flux of nutrients through atmospheric deposition, (3) changes in partitioning of water and contaminants as urbanization alters predevelopment rainfall-runoff relations, and (4) linkages between watershed models and lot-scale models to evaluate the effect of small-scale changes over the entire Sarasota Bay watershed. As urbanization in the Sarasota Bay watershed continues, focused research on water-resources issues can provide information needed by water-resources managers to ensure the future health of the watershed.
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to describe the watershed characteristics and the environmental setting of the Sarasota Bay watershed as they relate to surface-water and groundwater resources.
Approach
A comprehensive literature review was compiled about the Sarasota Bay watershed regarding the potential influence of recharge to groundwater and overland runoff to surface water on characteristics of the Sarasota Bay watershed. Emphasis was placed on cultural practices and their influence on soil compaction and infiltration.
Results
The project presented watershed science concepts that will enhance future approaches to modeling in humid, shallow water-table areas in urbanizing watersheds.
Information Product
Kish, G.R., Harrison, A.S., and Alderson, Mark, 2008, Retrospective Review of Watershed Characteristics and a Framework for Future Research in the Sarasota Bay Watershed, Florida: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1349, 49 p.
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
