National Park College (NPC) students from Dr. George Maxey’s Geology class gather
data from Bull Bayou Creek into Lake Hamilton last week. This is the third year of
the ongoing study to measure the total estimated annual discharge.
Students select a location on Bull Bayou Creek east of the National Park Campus to
gather the following information; GPS location, water temperature, pH of water, width
of stream, average depth of stream and average velocity. Upon returning to the classroom,
students entered their data into a spreadsheet, for final calculations.
Results of the project indicated that Bull Bayou’s contribution of water flowing
into Lake Hamilton was approximately 612,217,726 cubic foot of water per year (cfy)
based on data collected April 3rd, of 2019. Discharge calculations for 2019 was approximately
11% higher than 2018 data of 548,316,754 cfy but 33% less than 2017 data of 919,597,482
cfy. The varying data rates are most likely a result of spring rain contributing to
Bull Bayou’s discharge in each year. Participating in the data collection were Areana
Albo, Taylor Christian, Andrew Galloway, Noah Gregory, Michael Heller, Brandon Keys,
Preston Leonard, Adeline Mogovan, Ashley Palise, Patrick Phillips and Danielle Russell.
Pictured are: front, Danielle Russell, middle row left to right, Preston Leonard,
Adeline Mogovan, Michael Heller, back row left to right, Dr. Maxey, Drew Galloway,
Noah Gregory and Taylor Christian.
