Ambient water and sediment quality of Galveston Bay: present status and historical trends

Abstract

For many years, data relating to the quality of water and sediment have been collected in the Galveston Bay system by a variety of organizations and individuals. The objectives of data collection have been equally varied, including the movement and properties of water, the biology of the bay, waste discharges and their impacts, navigation, geology and coastal processes, and fisheries. The purpose of this project was to compile and evaluate these data, and to employ these data in a quantitative assesment of water and sediment quality of Galveston Bay and its evolution over time. There were three key objectives: 1) compilation of a comprehensive data base in machine-manipulable format, 2) analysis of time and space variation (including trends) in quality parameters, and 3) identification of possible causal mechanisms to explicate the observed variations.