Stream Management
Abstract
Stream modification projects associated with residential, commercial, and industrial development on predominantly headwater streams have raised concerns in developing metropolitan areas in Texas, such as Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and Tyler/Longview/Marshall. These projects result in individual and cumulative impacts to the aquatic ecosystem, including water quality degradation and aquatic and riparian habitat destruction and, in many cases, do not solve, but only transfer, the problems they are intended to address (erosion control, flood control, etc.). Many cities also have drainage ordinances that require developers to replace natural headwater streams with buried conduits or with straightened, sometimes hard-surfaced, channels for easier maintenance. The U.S. Army Engineer District, Fort Worth, is experiencing problems and delays in evaluating numerous permit applications because of the lack of a good framework for evaluating the impacts of these types of projects and the lack of a good framework for evaluating the impacts of these types of projects and the lack of good guidance for better watershed planning in the state. To address this problem, the district is working with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Waterways Experiment Station (WES), through the Water Operations Technical Support (WOTS) program, Federal and state resource agencies, and local government and planning authorities to develop a stream management education program. The goals of the program are to provide better protection for the aquatic environment through more environmentally acceptable projects, while rendering fair and reasonable decisions and providing for increased efficiency for all parties involved in the Regulatory Program.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA376384
Entities
People
- Hollis Allen
- J. Craig Fischenich
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center