Effects of small freshwater inflow volumes on water and sediment quality based on modeled flows to Carancahua Bay, Texas from 2015-09-01 to 2016-09-15

This data was collected to identify effects of small freshwater inflow volumes on water and sediment quality in the Lavaca-Colorado estuary, Texas, from to 2015-09-01 to 2016-09-15. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of small changes of inflow volumes on ecosystem health to evaluate the potential environmental benefits of hydrological conservation or restoration projects. Carancahua Bay is an ungaged watershed, so modeled flows using obtained from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), which uses the Texas Rainfall-Runoff (TxRR) model to estimate daily stream flows in ungagged watersheds. The TWDB watershed 15050 is composed of East Carancahua Creek and West Carancahua Creek, which contribute freshwater flow to the Carancahua Bay. The flow data was used to interpret biological changes at station N3 in dataset https://doi.org/10.7266/6ptst906, UDI: HI.x962.000:0018. This analysis indicates that an increased small volume, as low as 10% of freshwater inflow volume, can have positive benefits to estuarine conditions and health. Thus, hydrological protection or restoration projects based on small volumes can improve estuaries degraded by freshwater diversions.