Texas State University’s Jenna Walker , director of Watershed Services with The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, joins the Big Ideas TXST podcast to discuss the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor and predict the water quality along Texas’ 367 miles of coastline.

A 2022 study found that 55 out of 61 beaches tested along the Texas Gulf coast exceeded safe levels of fecal bacteria on at least one testing day. Enter The Meadows Center. Using its existing network of citizen scientists in the volunteer Texas Stream Team program, the center is regularly collecting water samples from locations along the coast and using innovative AI technology to analyze the data and predict bacteria levels and trends. Ultimately this is expected to make real-time information available to the public.

Walker oversees several multi-year, grant-funded research initiatives, including the Texas General Land Office-sponsored Clean Coast Texas initiative, a Texas Hill Country groundwater/surface water interaction research series, the Cypress Creek Watershed Protection Plan, and the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality-sponsored Texas Stream Team – an award-winning, statewide community science program designed to educate and empower the public to support watershed protection efforts and foster community-based partnerships.

FURTHER READING:

Texas Stream Team

How dirty are Texas beaches? Researchers are using AI to better track bacterial levels.

The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment