Sediment deposition in Lake Aquilla is occurring at much higher
rates than anticipated during the planning and design of the reservoir.
Based on volumetric storage capacity measurements taken by the Texas
Water Development Board (TWDB) in 1995, the capacity of the lake has
been reduced by approximately 6,438 acre-feet since impoundment began in
1983.
A preliminary study of the Lake Aquilla basin (USDA-NRCS-WRAT, 1998),
performed with the SWAT watershed scale model, indicated that
significant reductions in erosion and sedimentation could be achieved by
installing best management practices (BMP's). However, simulated
sediment loads from a few subbasins remained very high, and questionably
low sediment reductions were attained by applying BMP's on cropland.
This study used more detailed GIS layers, an improved SWAT model, and
the APEX farm scale model to provide additional insight to erosion and
sediment sources in the watershed. The improvements to SWAT were mainly
in the sheet and rill erosion subroutines for the land phase portion of
the model.
The report (in three parts) on the SWAT and APEX modeling can be
downloaded in portable document format (pdf) by clicking on the
following links. |
Click on map for larger view. |
About Us
Back to Top