Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST) v2: Theoretical Documentation
Citation:
Detenbeck, N., M. Tenbrink, R. Abele, J. Leclair, T. Garrigan, V. Zoltay, A. Morrison, A. Brown, B. Small, AND I. Morin. Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST) v2: Theoretical Documentation. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-15/058, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of the Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST) is to serve as a public-domain, efficient, and user-friendly tool for local water resources managers and planners to screen a wide-range of potential water resources management options across their watershed or jurisdiction for cost-effectiveness as well as environmental and economic sustainability (Zoltay et al 2010). Examples of options that could be evaluated with the tool potentially include projects related to stormwater, water supply, wastewater and water-related resources such as low-impact development (LID) and land conservation. The tool is intended to aid in evaluating the environmental and economic costs, benefits, trade-offs and co-benefits of various management options. In addition, the tool is intended to facilitate the evaluation of LID and green infrastructure as alternative or complementary management options in projects proposed for State Revolving Funds (SRF). As of October 2010, SRF Sustainability Policy calls for integrated planning in the use of SRF resources as a means of improving the sustainability of infrastructure projects and the communities they serve. In addition, Congress mandated a 20% set-aside of SRF funding for a “Green Project Reserve” which includes green infrastructure and land conservation measures as eligible projects in meeting water quality goals. The target user group for the DST consists of local water resources managers, including New England municipal water works superintendents and their consultants. Version 2 of WMOST includes functionality to facilitate addition of needed input hydrology and BMP performance data and incorporates costs and risks associated with flooding events.
Description:
The Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST) is a decision support tool that evaluates the relative cost-effectiveness of management practices at the local or watershed scale. WMOST models the environmental effects and costs of management decisions in a watershed context; that is, accounting for the direct and indirect effects of decisions. The model considers water flows and does not consider water quality. It is spatially lumped with options for a daily or monthly modeling time step. The optimization of management options is solved using linear programming. WMOST is intended to be a screening tool used as part of an integrated watershed management process such as that described in EPA’s watershed planning handbook (EPA 2008). WMOST serves as a public-domain, efficient, and user-friendly tool for local water resources managers and planners to screen a wide-range of potential water resources management options across their jurisdiction for cost-effectiveness and environmental and economic sustainability (Zoltay et al., 2010). Practices that can be evaluated include projects related to stormwater, water supply, wastewater and land resources such as low-impact development (LID) and land conservation. WMOST can aid in evaluating LID and green infrastructure as alternative or complementary management options in projects proposed for State Revolving Funds (SRF). In addition, the tool can enable assessing the trade-offs and co-benefits of various practices. In WMOST v2, the Baseline Hydrology and Stormwater Hydrology modules assist users with input data acquisition and pre-processing. In addition, the Flood module allows the consideration of flood damages and their reduction in assessing the cost-effectiveness of management practices. The target user group for WMOST consists of local water resources managers, including municipal water works superintendents and their consultants.