The U.S. Geological Survey streamflowgaging
network in Texas is operated as part of the
National Streamgaging Program and is jointly
funded by the Geological Survey and Federal,
State, and local agencies. This report documents an
evaluation of the existing (as of October 1, 1999)
network with regard to four major objectives of
streamflow data; and on the basis of that evaluation,
proposes a core network of streamflowgaging
stations that best meets those objectives.
The objectives are (1) regionalization (estimate
flows or flow characteristics at ungaged sites in
11 hydrologically similar regions), (2) major flow
(obtain flow rates and volumes in large streams),
(3) outflow from the State (account for streamflow
leaving the State), and (4) streamflow conditions
assessment (assess current conditions with regard
to long-term data, and define temporal trends in
flow). The network analysis resulted in a proposed
core network of 263 stations. Of those 263 stations,
43 were discontinued as of October 1, 1999, and
15 were partial-record stations. Fifty-five of the
proposed core-network stations meet two of the
four major objectives, 16 stations meet three objectives,
and 1 station meets all four. One-hundred
eighty-five stations with a median record length of
33 years were selected to meet the regionalization
objective. Ninety-two stations with a median
record length of about 62 years were selected to
meet the major-flow objective. Twenty-six stations
with a median record length of 59 years were
selected to meet the outflow from the State objective.
Fifty stations with a median record length of
53 years were selected to meet the streamflow conditions
assessment objective.
