Modeling Channel Maintenance in a Coastal Plain Watershed

2008 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Addressing Water Challenges Facing the State and Regio

Forest composition and growth in a freshwater forested wetland community across a salinity gradient in South Carolina, USA

Tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFW) of the southeastern United States are experiencing increased saltwater intrusion mainly due to sea-level rise. Inter-annual and intra-annual variability in forest productivity along a salinity gradient was studied on established sites. Aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) of trees was monitored from 2013 to 2015 on three sites within a baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) swamp forest ecosystem in Strawberry Swamp on Hobcaw Barony, Georgetown County, South Carolina. Paired plots (20 × 25-m) were established along a water salinity gradient (0.8, 2.6, 4.6 PSU). Salinity was continuously monitored, litterfall was measured monthly, and growth of overstory trees ⩾10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) was monitored on an annual basis. Annual litterfall and stem wood growth were summed to estimate ANPP. The DBH of live and dead individuals of understory shrubs were measured to calculate density, basal area (BA), and important values (IV). Freshwater forest communities clearly differed in composition, structure, tree size, BA, and productivity across the salinity gradient. The higher salinity plots had decreased numbers of tree species, density, and BA. Higher salinity reduced average ANPP. The dominant tree species and their relative densities did not change along the salinity gradient, but the dominance of the primary tree species differed with increasing salinity. Baldcypress was the predominant tree species with highest density, DBH, BA, IV, and contribution to total ANPP on all sites. Mean growth rate of baldcypress trees decreased with increasing salinity, but exhibited the greatest growth among all tree species. While the overall number of shrub species decreased with increasing salinity, wax myrtle (Morella cerifera) density, DBH, BA, and IV increased with salinity. With rising sea level and increasing salinity levels, low regeneration of baldcypress, and the invasion of wax myrtle, typical successional patterns in TFFW and forest health are likely to change in the future

Plant Survival in the Floodplain Restoration of Crabtree Swamp, Horry County, SC

2012 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Exploring Opportunities for Collaborative Water Research, Policy and Managemen

Runoff Generation from Shallow Water Table Southeastern Forested Watersheds: Unusual Behavior of Paired Watersheds Following Major Disturbance

2012 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Exploring Opportunities for Collaborative Water Research, Policy and Managemen

Evaluating the Role of Evapotranspirative Processes for Stormwater Management in Coastal South Carolina Watersheds with Shallow Groundwater

2014 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Informing Strategic Water Planning to Address Natural Resource, Community and Economic Challenge

Green Infrastructure in Coastal Landscapes: Ecological Design, Hydrological Function, and Sustainable Land Use Goals

2012 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Exploring Opportunities for Collaborative Water Research, Policy and Managemen

Performance of porous asphalt pavements: stormwater quantity and quality mitigation

Recent advances in several broadly allied scientific disciplines have shown that green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) can to some extent restore the natural pathways that stormwater takes from landscape to stream. Permeable pavements are one of several GSI techniques that are commonly used across the country to mitigate the effects of stormwater on downstream receiving waters. In the State of Washington, the use of GSI is mandated for any new or retrofit construction project that meets certain criteria. The talk will focus on performance studies of a 9-cell replicated asphalt pavement test facility that is installed at the Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center Campus, Puyallup, WA. The asphalt test facility has 9 lined cells - 3 cells are constructed with conventional asphalt and 6 with porous asphalt. Runoff from the impervious cells acted as a control and were compared to runoff from the pervious cells. All water applied to the surface and that which infiltrated through the sub-base aggregate was monitored and collected at the outflow. Artificial and natural storm events were used to test both hydrologic and biogeochemical properties of the two systems. Pollutants evaluated were suspended sediments, metals, nutrients, and hydrocarbons. Results from this work show that porous asphalt pavements are able to infiltrate as much as 99.5% of incident rainfall. Additionally, preliminary results suggest that porous asphalt pavement systems are capable of considerable treatment of several key stormwater pollutants. This work will be presented in full at the conference

Determining Environmental Flow Regime in the Pee Dee Watershed, SC

2010 South Carolina Water Resource Conference. Informing strategic water planning to address natural resource, community and economic challenges

Monitoring Water Quality Changes in a Forested Freshwater Wetland Threatened By Salinity

2014 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Informing Strategic Water Planning to Address Natural Resource, Community and Economic Challenge

Moving Forward: Refinement of the INTELLIGENT RIVER, A Basin-Scale Monitoring Instrument

2012 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Exploring Opportunities for Collaborative Water Research, Policy and Managemen