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BASINS
Description:
Resource Purpose:The U.S EPA's water programs and their counterparts in states and pollution control agencies are increasingly emphasizing watershed- and water quality-based assessment and integrated analysis of point and nonpoint sources. Better Assessment Science Integrating point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) is a system developed to meet the needs of such agencies. It integrates a geographic information system (GIS), national watershed data, and state-of-the-art environmental assessment and modeling tools into one convenient package. Originally released in September 1996, BASINS addresses three objectives: (1) to facilitate examination of environmental information, (2) to provide an integrated watershed and modeling framework, and (3) to support analysis of point and nonpoint source management alternatives. It supports the development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), which require a watershed-based approach that integrates both point and nonpoint sources. BASINS can support the analysis of a number of pollutants at a variety of scales, using tools that range from simple to sophisticated.
Legislation/Enabling Authority:CWA
Data Type:
Primary Data Type:
Monitoring
Facility
Compliance
Permit
Geographical Data Stored By:
Latitude - Longitude
Data Represented By:
Points
Lines
Polygons
Measurement Methods:
varies, check the metadata
System Access Privileges:
Access Methods:
Resource Website
OW Intranet
FTP
Other
Other Methods:
CD-ROMS
Resources Accessible By:
Public
States
Regions
All EPA
EPA Branch
EPA Division
EPA Authorized
CBI Security:
Above, the Content Standard for digital Geospatial Metadata also applies and was implemented Fall 1998. No
Data Collection:BASINS is distributed with data on CD-ROMS after each new version. Timeframe is N/A
Range of Data Start:
19700101
Range of Data End:
19971231