TWENTY YEARS OF LAND USE AND THE IMPACT OF NITRATE, E. COLI AND CHLOROPHYLL FOR TWO LAKES IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS

Author

Alicia Lee

Graduation Semester and Year

2021

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biology

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Corey Roelke

Abstract

Clean and safe drinking water is a human right. Global, federal, and state agencies that monitor the source and quality of drinking water are limited in power and oversight. Historically, human groups have replaced wetland habitat with cropland, disregarding the abundance of resources. To mediate the loss, human constructed artificial wetlands aid in cleaning natural water ways. In chapter one, four floating wetland structures were installed on Lake Arlington and historical water quality data from 2001-2018 was analyzed. Historical data included six variables: Chlorophyll α, Dissolved Oxygen, Temperature, Specific Conductivity and Turbidity. The Mann Kendall Seasonality Trend test found that Specific Conductance, Turbidity, and pH had significant monotonic trends. In chapter two, land use changes over time are reviewed and compared to drinking water quality parameters, Chlorophyll α, Total Coliform and Nitrate at two reservoirs. Lake Arlington and Joe Pool Lake water quality data was provided by Trinity River Authority and land use data was downloaded from the NCTCOG Regional Data Center. Lake Arlington chlorophyll α was highly correlated with five out of nine land use categories, these included commercial, dedicated, institutional, residential, and undeveloped lands. Joe Pool Lake tests of chlorophyll α, and nitrate returned significant correlations. Chlorophyll α is negatively correlated with land use categories dedicated, infrastructure and institutional. Nitrate was negatively correlated with dedicated, infrastructure and institutional land use categories. Reviewing the results of chapter 2, a closer look at land use categories dedicated, infrastructural and institutional may provide deeper insight to the root of the nitrate and chlorophyll α correlations.

Keywords

Floating wetlands, Drinking water, Texas lakes

Disciplines

Biology | Life Sciences

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Recommended Citation

Lee, Alicia, "TWENTY YEARS OF LAND USE AND THE IMPACT OF NITRATE, E. COLI AND CHLOROPHYLL FOR TWO LAKES IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS" (2021). Biology Theses. 61.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/biology_theses/61