QUALITY ASSURANCE STATEMENT

The items listed below correspond to those of Instructions: Quality Assurance Statement.

  1. The project will perform hydrologic, hydraulic, hydroecological, geotechnical, ecological, climatological, and sociological studies in the Cañada Joe Bill watershed, to develop baseline data to support creek restoration activities. Hydrologic data include watershed areas, hydraulic lengths, curve numbers, channel slopes, and channel cross sections. Hydraulic data includes Manning friction and cross-sectional data. Geotechnical data includes cohesion and friction angle of soil samples. Ecological data refers to the type and extent of vegetational communities. Climatological data includes temperature and precipitation. Sociological data refers to census data as well as data on population dynamics. The data to be collected is of sufficiently good quality to be used in the analysis. Efforts will be made to enhance the precision, accuracy, representativeness, completeness, and comparability of the sampling associated with the project's activities.

  2. A runoff curve number will be determined for each subwatershed, and average channel slopes will be determined for each reach. Cross sections for hydraulic analysis will be measured every 200 m. The existing climatological data from four neighboring stations (La Puerta, Valle de Las Palmas, El Hongo, and Jacume) will be analyzed. Ecological sampling will be performed on site. The existing condition of the creek will be documented in photographs for later comparison and analysis. Geotechnical sampling will be performed at the location of the embankment, and the samples will be analyzed in SDSU's Geotechnical Laboratory. The entire population of Cañada Joe Bill will be involved in the attitudinal survey which is an intrinsic part of the sociological study. Local actors will be selected for interviews based on their leadership potential and knowledge of the Canada Joe Bill's predicament.

  3. Soil samples will be taken on strategic locations along the embankment, with aim to analyze these for size distribution, classification, and other soil properties. The samples will be handled (collected, identified, preserved, transported, and stored) following procedures recommended by ASTM. These samples will be processed in the SDSU Geotechnical Laboratory for grain size analysis, soil classification, direct shear, and triaxial tests.

  4. The hydrologic model to be used in the rainfall-runoff modeling is a deterministic model; therefore, it requires little calibration. The hydrologic model will be supported with GIS. The estimates of Manning friction for the hydraulic modeling component of the study will rely on established references such as V. T. Chow's "Open-channel Hydraulics" and H. A. Barnes' "Roughness characteristics of natural channels." The geotechnical testing will use specialized direct shear and triaxial shear equipment available at the SDSU Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory. Other project activities, including risk-based, climatological, and sociological analyses do not require equipment.

  5. This study will use established hydrologic and hydraulic models, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS. The study will also use the RAINFLO model, developed by Dr. Victor M. Ponce at SDSU. The geotechnical data reduction and reporting procedures will follow current ASTM standards. The Montecarlo simulation method will be used in the risk analysis component of the study.

  6. The success of the project will be assessed by reviews by peers, including U.S. and Mexican officials. The final draft report will be posted on the web, and comments by stakeholders and other interested parties will be solicited and encouraged. The project team will work in close cooperation with local stakeholders to ensure that the results are relevant to the objective of restoring the Cañada Joe Bill to its former state of productive stability.