Modeling The Impacts of Green Infrastructure on E. coli in the Village Creek Watershed, Texas

Abstract

Urbanization imposes threats to water quality requiring water management strategies that aid sustainable development, such as green infrastructure (GI). This study estimated the usefulness of GI practices to help in E. coli reductions in an impaired Village Creek watershed (VC) located in the North Central Texas region. First, a Soil and Water Assessment Tool-based model of the VC was developed to represent current watershed conditions. Then, seven GI scenarios, with 70% and 90% bacteria removal efficiencies, were implemented in urban areas to estimate their impacts in reducing E. coli concentrations. The results showed that the GI scenario with 90% removal efficiency could reduce about 81% E. coli concentrations in the watershed, with higher reductions observed in high-density and industrial urban areas. Thus, the findings of this thesis research could be beneficial to stakeholders in the VC watershed to reduce E. coli concentrations through GI implementations in target areas.