Abstract
It is not known if the increases in water quality degradation are the result of flawed BMPs or the overall cumulative increases in impervious surface are thus making BMPs ineffective. Impervious surface runoff coefficients represent the fraction of rainfall that runs off an impervious structure and becomes storm water runoff. Research also has shown that increases in impervious surface because of human development are a direct indicator of the future water and ecosystem quality (Schueler, 1994). The purpose of this thesis is to determine if there is any indication of a relationship between impervious surface changes and the water quality of the Estero Bay Watershed.
