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ASSISTANCE FOR THE USGS, VIRGINIA DISTRICT IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND REVIEW OF INPUT SEQUENCES FOR HSPF FOR DRAINAGE BASINS IN VIRGINIA |
Client:
U.S. Geological Survey, Virginia District Office, Richmond, VA
HSPF is being used by the Virginia District to model streamflow and fecal coliform bacteria in three drainage basins as part of TMDL assessments for coliform -- Black's Creek and Christian's Creek in the rural Shenandoah Valley in western Virginia, and Accotink Creek in suburban Fairfax County. In efforts to date, the District has needed assistance in simulation plan review, data review, software set-up, and model calibration.
AQUA TERRA Consultants has provided assistance both via telephone and e-mail and during a series of 3-5 day onsite visits in the Richmond office. The initial data and simulation plan were reviewed, and assistance has been provided thus far for the set-up and calibration of the hydrology inputs for two of the three basins, plus the fecal coliform modeling in one basin. The study involved detailed tracking of fecal coliform from 14 different animal species, including humans. A system of parallel land segments and reaches were set up to separately model many more than HSPF's normal limit on general water quality constituents within a single run. Software packages that were installed and are currently in use include HSPF v.12 beta, the HSPEXP expert system for hydrology calibration, and GenScn, a GUI scenario generation and analysis tool developed by AQUA TERRA for the USGS.