You are here:
WATERSHED ASSESSMENT RESEARCH
Impact/Purpose:
The main objective of this research is to identify deficiencies in the current watershed modeling approaches and conduct research that makes the Hydrologic Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) more accurate, more efficient, and more applicable to the needs of the resource managers and decision makers. The ultimate goal is to have watershed models that can simulate the cumulative impacts of alternative development scenarios and present the risks associated with different scenarios under an adaptive management framework where scenarios impacts are tested, model results analyzed, lessons learned, and management decisions made through an iterative process.
Description:
Many streams listed in the 303(d) list have impaired biological communities with no obvious chemical pollutants. In such cases, the cause of impairment can be physical alteration of the streams due to agricultural activities, urban development, construction of dams, construction of bridges, and channel dredging. This research will address flow alteration and other related issues that are associated with changing watershed conditions. Although habitat and physical alteration are potential causes of impairment, modeling guidance on how to address flow and habitat alteration are not well established. For example, flow alteration created by urbanization is not addressed by the TMDL and NPDES programs. Today, there are many watershed models, but only a few models are capable of continuous simulation of both hydrology and water quality at the watershed scale. The Hydrologic Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) is one of the most comprehensive watershed models because it can simulate how changing watershed conditions influence both hydrology and water quality. Comprehensive models are important to resource managers because running different models to simulate hydrology, management scenarios or different water quality constituents makes watershed modeling less efficient. To address the complex changes that occur in a watershed, watershed models must be more comprehensive in the sense that a single model must address most of the modeling needs of a watershed thus eliminating the need to switch to a different model each time a different pollutant or a management alternative has to be modeled.