Update as of 10/28

This week, I decided that since the raster I intended on using was too large to clip or convert to a polygon, I would have to find another base map to use that contained data for land use classifications. I tried searching for a raster that contained land use data for just New York State. I could not find one, but I did find a vector polygon online that contained land use data within the Patroon Watershed which is even better. The vector contains more of a variety of land use classifications that are more specific than the land use classifications contained in the raster I initially planned on using. Commercial, residential, urban, industrial, and commercial road use are among the classifications included in this polygon vector that exist within the Patroon Watershed. 

I clipped Albany County from New York State counties layer and added the land use polygon and delineated Patroon watershed layers to my map. In the next couple of days, I hope to complete the land use percentage calculations within the watershed.

A classmate suggested that I identify some critical areas within the watershed that may contribute large amounts or high concentrations of pollutants to the watershed irrespective of their location in order to hypothesize which stream sampling sites are most prone to containing high concentrations of heavy metal content. I thought that this could be a great addition to my project.

The criteria I am interested in considering are:

• areas adjacent to a waterbody
• areas within 1/4 mile of a waterbody
• areas that contain direct discharges to a waterbody (pipes, ditches, tanks)
• areas that have intense land use patterns
• areas that are used for higher-risk purposes
• areas with steep slopes 

Sample areas that meet two or more of these criteria would be considered buffer zones and are especially vulnerable to pollution.

I’ll plot these criteria as layers. I would have to add a layer containing elevation data to my map and use a DEM to slope tool to calculate the slopes along the stream sampling sites. Then, I’ll use the intersection tool to determine the buffer zones within my watershed and then hypothesize the stream sampling sites that will contain the highest concentration of heavy metal content.

After hypothesizing, I can gather the actual heavy metal concentration gathered by research students at Siena from the sample sites to see whether or not my predictions were correct. 

Update as of 10/20

Over the past week, I downloaded a 2011 land cover raster from USGS online. I observed the attributes table of this raster and found out that each land cover type corresponded to both an integral value and the amount of pixels within the raster it is associated with. I also delineated the Patroon Watershed by using the USGS StreamStats website to identify the area in which it encapsulates and exporting that area as a shapefile into ArcGIS.  My initial plan was to convert the land cover raster into a polygon vector by using the model tool so that I can calculate land use percentages within this watershed. When I tried doing this, I realized the raster is too large for such a conversion. Then, I tried clipping it, but ArcGIS was still giving me a hard time. I will either have to find a smaller raster or figure out a different method to do the conversion.


After delineating the Patroon watershed and observing the land cover within the watershed, I am realizing that the watershed land cover consists entirely of low to high intensity urban development. I have more of a fixed range of land use types to work with than I thought. Therefore, I can not use any of the natural land areas for my project like I initially planned.

Goals for next week:
-Convert the raster into a polygon vector
-Find the area of the polygon, which will represent the area of the Patroon watershed

Project Proposal

Introduction

Recently, there has been rising concern over water quality issues in the Patroon Watershed, an urban watershed located in the Albany area. The effects of industrial buildings, roads, and other urban developments on the local hydrologic system are at times tremendous. More storm runoff and erosion occurs because of the scarce vegetation in these areas and the constant changes in stormwater drainage patterns due to growing urban development. Polluted runoff, erosion and land sediment flows into the streams causing an overall degradation in the health of urban watersheds. The water within these watersheds is the water used to sustain aquatic ecosystems. On top of that, the local community is dependent on this water for many resources and recreational activities. This is why continuously investigating the primary causes of declining watershed health is so important.

Methodology

My project will focus on the relationship between water quality and land cover. Using USGS streamstats, I will delineate the Patroon watershed in Albany, NY and gather land cover data from the 2011 dataset. The type of land uses I will take account are urban development and natural land areas. Then, I will compute land use percentages using ArcGIS. As for water quality statistics, I will use heavy metal content data collected from variously located streams and conductivity measurements within the Patroon Watershed by the Environmental Studies and Sciences Department at Siena College. A comparison of these two variables will follow these initial steps. This relationship will likely be represented graphically, with % upstream urban land use being the independent variable and conductivity as well as heavy metal content data being the dependent variable. One would expect that there will be a correlation between upstream urban land use and the conductivity of these streams, which will serve as evidence that urbanization does impact water quality.

Objectives

1. Discover something new about the relationship between urban land use and water quality within the Patroon Watershed.
2. Locate streams that suffer in water quality so that they can continue to be monitored.
3. Complete Poster Presentation
4. Use the poster presentation to educate the local community about the impacts of urbanization on water quality

Deliverables

-Poster Presentation

-Map of the area within the Patroon Watershed showing land coverage and the location of the streams in which data was collected with streams indicating poor water quality marked

-Graphical representation of the relationship between percent upstream urban land use and stream conductivity/heavy metal content, will be included in poster

Timeline of my project:

Week 6 of Fall 2016 semester- Finalize my project proposal

Week 7- Familiarize myself with USGS streamstats and the other softwares I will be using, delineate Patroon watershed and gather land cover data from the 2011 dataset

Week 8- Begin computing land use percentages using ArcGIS, gather the stream monitoring datasets collected in the Summer of 2016

Week 9- Begin creating map

Week 10- Create graph

Week 11- Catch up

Week 12- Work on poster

Week 13- Finish up poster

Week 14- Finalize final poster

Sources

"Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC)." Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC). N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2016.

Perlman, USGS Howard. "Runoff (surface Water Runoff)." Runoff (Surface Water Runoff), USGS Water Science School. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.