Improving Coastal Resilience and Water Quality through Proactive Planning for Sea Level Rise

Summary

The GLO will contract with Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi’s Harte Research Institute (HRI) to conduct additional modeling that will assess the impacts of projected urban growth and sprawl on water quality and the environment within the coastal zone. The model will look at the influence of unmitigated growth on urban floodplains, water quality structures/facilities, and sensitive landscapes most likely to experience land conversion due to urban expansion. Modeling results will help guide proactive local planning and project development focused on maintaining and improving the potency of ecosystem services provided by watershed and riparian areas including recreational and aesthetic values, critical wildlife habitat, flood water storage and conveyance, and improvements to estuarine water quality and quantity.