Part 1: Base Map & Goal Statement:
1) Select a water resource to be studied and provide an appropriate base map (USGS topographic maps are generally a good choice).
This can be a lake, pond, stream, coastal embayment, estuary or groundwater water source. Ideally I recommend a location that you can visit during the semester at least once and something that is reasonable in scale (thus reducing the geographical extent and the number of maps that you might need for your analysis). Students can select their own case study area or can work on a component of an actual on-going project that Scott Horsley is involved with (such as the Cape Cod 208 Plan).
2) Articulate a clear goal of your project. One or two sentences is appropriate. Something like, “The goal of this project is to develop recommendations to restore the lake to meet water quality standards to support water contact sports such as swimming.”
Part 2: Analysis
5-8 pages narrative (including brief summary tables and graphics)
~ 5 pages of appendices, such as maps, excel sheet calculations or excerpts from zoning codes
1. Delineate the “contributing area” on an appropriate base map (USGS topographic or equivalent at the appropriate scale). This might be a watershed, wellhead protection area, groundwater drainage area or other priority protection area. In many areas the watershed or contributing area may have already been delineated – you may use this. However, you may wish to delineate subwatersheds to provide more specific management objectives.
2. Prepare a basic hydrologic budget showing inputs and outputs to the water resource on an annual basis. Double check your calculations with a “back of the envelope” method to make sure your calculations seem reasonable. Generally speaking, we want to know how much water reaches the target water body on an annual basis and how the inputs are split between direct precipitation (falling directly on it), surface runoff and groundwater discharge. You should think about which pollutant sources are transported via atmospheric deposition, groundwater (subsurface) or stormwater runoff (surface).
3. Conduct a land use analysis that discusses historical, current and future potential sources of contamination or hydrologic impacts. The historical analysis can be narrative, however, the existing and future should be computed based upon aerial photographs, GIS data and, for future land uses, in accordance with zoning.
4. Prepare an impact analysis (such as a TMDL) to relate the land use analysis to impacts. Calculate the areas of each land use category (residential, commercial, etc) and apply an appropriate loading rate (or export coefficient) to determine the relative contributions of pollutants for each land use category. A summary table or pie chart is useful in illustrating the results of this analysis.
My commentary:
- Part one is merely stating the purpose of part 2. A few sentences is fine. Please submit a USGS topographic map of the body of water you choose to work with. Please state a practical and applicable purpose in terms of the project goal, as it may be carried out. The example given is a good one. Another example would be “the Goal of this project is to reduce nutrafication of (your chosen body of water) by redirecting and separating () water flows. This will also save the area (x-amount) in water cost.)
- Part two is clear cut. It is the bulk of the work, and must full fill the statement given in part one. Part 2 will be handed in after part one.
- In terms of payment, I will consider each page of appendices (maps etc) as a power-point. there must be 5 appendices for the second part and 1 (the USGS topographical map) for the first part.
- There is a part three. A pier of mine will give commentary on part to, Which I will submit along with the instructions for part 3. Therefore i will soon need to work with whomever does this project again, and it must be the same person.