Applications of remote sensing to watershed management

Aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems which are capable of contributing to watershed management are described and include: the multispectral scanner subsystem on LANDSAT and the basic multispectral camera array flown on high altitude aircraft such as the U-2. Various aspects of watershed management investigated by remote sensing systems are discussed. Major areas included are: snow mapping, surface water inventories, flood management, hydrologic land use monitoring, and watershed modeling. It is indicated that technological advances in remote sensing of hydrological data must be coupled with an expansion of awareness and training in remote sensing techniques of the watershed management community

Sny Magill Watershed Modeling Project: Final Report

Improved assessment of flow, sediment, and nutrient losses from watersheds with computer simulation models is needed in order to identify and control nonpoint source pollution. One model, currently under consideration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for watershed assessments, is the Soil Water and Assessment Tool (SWAT). In this report, the authors describe an application of SWAT for the Sny Magill Creek Watershed (SMCW), which covers 7,100 hectares in northeastern Iowa. The authors conclude that the SWAT model was generally able to predict flow, sediment, and nutrient losses. Additionally, the SWAT model provided useful insights about the importance of accurate data inputs, weaknesses in some of the data collecting methodologies, and the impacts of best management practices (BMPs) on water quality

Life-cycle Water Quantity and Water Quality Implications of Biofuels

Water consumption and water quality continue to be key factors affecting environmental sustainability in biofuel production. This review covers the findings from biofuel water analyses published over the past 2 years to underscore the progress made, and to highlight advancements in understanding the interactions among increased production and water demand, water resource availability, and potential changes in water quality. We focus on two key areas: water footprint assessment and watershed modeling. Results revealed that miscanthus-, switchgrass-, and forest wood-based biofuels all have promising blue and grey water footprints. Alternative water resources have been explored for algae production, and challenges remain. A most noticeable improvement in the analysis of life-cycle water consumption is the adoption of geospatial analysis and watershed modeling to generate a spatially explicit water footprint at a finer scale (e.g., multi-state region, state, and county scales) to address the impacts of land use change and climate on the water footprint in a landscape with a mixed biofuel feedstock

BasinSim 1.0 A Windows-Based Watershed Modeling Package

BasinSim 1.0 for Windows is the product of a NOAA Coastal Zone Management grant (through the Virginia Coastal Resources Management Program) awarded to Drs. Ting Dai, R. L. Wetzel, I. C. Anderson, and L. W. Haas at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary in 1998. Additional support has been provided for the development and testing of this package and production of this user’s guide by grants from Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department (CBLAD). BasinSim 1.0 is a desktop simulation system that predicts sediment and nutrient loads for small to mid-sized watersheds. The simulation system is based on the Generalized Watershed Loading Functions (GWLF), a tested watershed model developed by Dr. Douglas Haith and his colleagues at Cornell University, New York (Haith and Shoemaker 1987, Haith et al. 1992). BasinSim 1.0 integrates an easy-to-use graphic Windows interface, extensive databases (land uses, population, soils, water discharge, water quality, climate, point nutrient sources, etc.), and the GWLF model (with modifications) into a single software package. It was designed to enable resource managers to visualize watershed characteristics, retrieve historic data (at the county and sub-watershed levels), manipulate land use patterns, and simulate nutrient (N, P, and organic C) and sediment loadings under various scenarios. The software will assist resource managers in making sound management decisions using the latest technology, information, and scientific knowledge. The system can also be used to educate local organizations and the general public about linkages between basinwide resource management and water quality

Development Of A GIS-Based Watershed Modeling Tool

A GIS-based numerical tool makes watershed and water quality studies easier by bringing key data and analytical components under one GIS roof. Using the familiar Windows environment, analysts can efficiently access international and national environmental information, apply assessment and planning tools, and run a variety of proven, robust point and non-point loading and water quality models. With many of necessary components together in one system, the analysis time is significantly reduced, a greater variety of questions can be answered, and data and management needs can be more efficiently identified. Minimal data requirements and an ease of application are a motivation to develop a new simpler GIS-based watershed modeling tool, particularly for developing countries where there are a lack of temporal and spatial series of data. An objective of this study is to develop such GIS-based numerical tool for assessment of water balance and runoff pollutions caused by point and non-point sources in watershed systems. The core of the model is based on Generalized Watershed Loading Functions with a number of additions and enhancements of runoff, sediment and daily time step calculations. The model is programming in VB.NET, and designed to complement and interoperate with enterprise and full-featured MapWindow open source GIS. It has two components: a runoff component included water balance and nutrient load modules, and a routing component engaged with HEC-RAS model. All components are merging under GIS MapWindow functions as plug-ins. The model has been verified and validated for the Spring Creek watershed (Pennsylvania) and the Tri-An watershed (Vietnam). A comparison between the results obtained from the model and observations, as well as with results from a well-known AVGWLF shows very good agreements. This watershed modeling tool can be served as a multipurpose environmental analysis system in performing watershed- and water-quality-based studies

Strategic targeting of cropland management using watershed modeling

Pushpa Tuppad1, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin2, Kent A. McVay3(1. Texas AgriLife Research, 1500 Research Parkway, Suite B223, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA;2. Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA;3. Railroad Highway, Southern Agricultural Research Center, Huntley, MT 59037, USA) Abstract: Effective water-quality protection should target Best Management Practices (BMPs) on watershed areas that contribute most to water-quality impairment instead of the typical voluntary implementation of practices, which may not be better than a random distribution of BMPs within a watershed.  This paper demonstrates a strategic approach for targeting watershed areas to maximize water-quality benefits from BMP implementation.  Almost half of the Smoky Hill River Watershed, Kansas, USA is cropland, a major sediment and nutrient source.  The impacts of reduced tillage, edge-of-field vegetative filter strips, and contoured-terraced practices on erosion and nutrient loads both overland and at the watershed outlet were evaluated using either random or targeted implementation, based on simulated average subbasin erosion rate.  The targeted approach was more effective in reducing sediment and nutrients, both at subbasin and watershed levels.  Annual average overland pollutant load reductions of 10% required BMP adoption on less than half the land area with targeted versus random placement.  The benefits of targeting were greater for initial increments of BMP adoption and decreased as implementation area increased.Keywords: targeting, conservation practices, erosion, SWAT modeling, watershed Citation: Pushpa Tuppad, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Kent A. McVay.  Strategic targeting of cropland management using watershed modeling.  Agric Eng Int: CIGR Journal, 2010, 12(3): 12-24. &nbsp

Assesing the Water Quality Trading Ratio in the North Bosque Watershed as an Alternative of Maintaining Water Quality

Water quality standard is defined by the level of environment absorptive capacity of pollutants. Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a program to maintain the water quality in the impaired river segments. Using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The study objective is to assess the possibilities of water quality trading, within the North Bosque Watershed, in term of trading ratios. The model simulation result was not very satisfying, where the calibration of the PO4 has a very high error. For the soluble phosphorus trading, the model cannot be used as the only tool in defining the trading ratio.Keywords: Water Quality, Total Maximum Daily Load (Tmdl), Trading Ratio IntroductionThe North Bosque Watershed (NBW) consists of segment 1226, the North Bosque River, and segment 1255, the Upper North Bosque River. The segments are enlisted in the Texas Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 303(d) List as being impaired, which identifies the insufficient achievement of water quality standard. It implies that water quality standard is defined by the level of environment absorptive capacity of pollutants. One of the concerning pollutant parameters is nutrient as it is being contributed enormously by a Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) discharges as Point Source (PS) and dairies/croplands areas run off as Non Point Source (NPS).The nutrients, phosphorous and nitrogen, of PS can be managed on-site at each plant by controlling the pollutant's level allowed to be discharged also known as Permit Compliance System (PCS). Meanwhile managing the impact of NPS where the pollutant distributed within the watershed is somehow difficult. The amount of nutrient in the streams, which affects the water quality, however is both from PS and NPS. The state of Texas, under the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB), maintains the water quality in the impaired river segments by implementing the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program

Constituent Load Estimation in the Lower Ouachita-Smackover Watershed

Water quality was monitored at 21 sites in the Lower Ouachita‐Smackover Watershed from 2013 November through 2014 September. The U.S. Geological Survey maintains discharge monitoring stations at two of these sites, Moro Creek (USGS 07362500) and Smackover Creek (USGS 07362100), which were sampled during base flow and storm event conditions, whereas the other sites were only sampled during baseflow. The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) estimated constituent loads for nitrate‐N (NO₃‐–N), total nitrogen (TN), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total phosphorus (TP) and total suspended solids (TSS) using the U.S. Geological Survey LOADEST software. LOADEST creates regression models between constituent concentrations and discharge, as well as time. The resulting models were applied to daily discharge throughout calendar years 2013 and 2014 to estimate loads. Annual and monthly loads and flow volumes for each site are summarized in this report