Scientific Principles for Definition of Environmental Flows

This memorandum describes some scientific principles for the establishment of environmental flow requirements in Texas streams, rivers, bays and estuaries. There are four general principles: 1) The soundness of ecological integrity is ensured by sustainability of natural resources. 2) Field measurements are the keystone to assessing and understanding ecosystem components and processes. 3) Scientific inference should be used to establish the relationship between the ecological integrity of an aquatic ecosystem and its associated environmental flows. 4) Adaptation of assessment procedures. These four principles can guide the scientific development of environmental flow requirements in Texas surface waters.