The Impact of Palustrine Wetland Loss on Flood Peaks:An Application of Distributed Hydrologic Modeling in Harris County, Texas

[摘要] This study uses a distributed hydrologic model to assess the impact of wetland loss onflood peaks. There is large agreement among hydrologists that wetlands have significantflood-mitigation potential. However, the lack of data availability and the appropriatemodel have generally prevented this impact from being quantified and applied to cityplanning. From 1980 to 2008 sixty percent of the wetlands in Houston's Cole Creekwere destroyed. Because of its proximity to downtown, a wealth of historical, hydrologicdata are available for the subbasin. Distributed hydrologic models, which have becomemore accessible with the increase of computer processing power, allow for theconsideration of finite areas, such as wetlands, on watershed response. This study foundthat wetland loss from 1980 to 2008 has increased flood peaks by approximately 15percent in Cole Creek, for 2, 5, and 10-year storms.

[发布机构] Rice University

[效力级别] engineering