Impact of Land Cover Changes on the Soil and Water Quality of Greens Bayou Watershed
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Impact of Land Cover Changes on the Soil and Water Quality of Greens Bayou Watershed Balaji Bhaskar Maruthi Sridhar Adeola Mosuro
& Jericho Johnson &
Received: 14 June 2020 / Accepted: 24 September 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Rapid land use and land cover changes have a significant effect on ecology, environment, and human health in urban watersheds. With increase in frequency and intensity of the urban flooding events and repeated inundation of the neighborhoods, it is important to monitor the water and soil chemical characteristics in Greens Bayou Watershed (GBW) region. The objectives of this study were to (1) analyze the nutrient and heavy metal concentrations in water and soil samples along the Greens Bayou, (2) monitor the historical water quality data, and (3) identify and analyze land cover changes in the watershed using Landsat imagery. A total of 12 water and 12 soil samples, from four different sampling locations along the Greens Bayou, were collected during two seasons and processed for chemical analysis. Our water sample analysis revealed that the As, Cd, Pb, and Hg concentrations were higher in the fall compared with the summer and exceeded the critical limit. The soil analysis indicated that the Zn and Pb concentrations were higher in the fall over summer season and exceeded the background concentrations. Remote B. B. M. Sridhar (*) Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA e-mail: [email protected] J. Johnson Department of Chemistry, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX 77004, USA A. Mosuro Department of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX 77004, USA
sensing analysis revealed that the impervious surface in the GBW increased by about 62.2% while the vegetative surface decreased by 30.6% during the period of 1984 to 2018. Environmental chemical analysis coupled with geospatial data demonstrated the impact of land cover changes on water and soil quality along the Greens Bayou by identifying areas vulnerable to change, which can be better managed to preserve the health of this urban watershed ecosystem. Keywords Greens Bayou . Heavy metal . Remote sensing . Landsat and geographic information systems (GIS)
1 Introduction Streams and bayous in urban watersheds are increasingly subjected to degradation by high inflow of nutrient, metal, and bacterial contaminants due to rapid land use and land cover changes. With 55% of world population living in urban areas and projected for increase to 68% by 2050, the impact on water and soil contamination is of immense importance to environmental and human health (UNDESA 2018). Houston, located in southeast of Texas, is the fourth largest city in the USA with a vast network of bayous that provide natural drainage to the sprawling urban area stretching over 600 square miles (Bogust 2017; Dart 2017). The southeast Texas region receives an average annual precipitation of 49.7 inches and has a flat landscape with an average elevation of 50 m abov
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