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AWRA 2010 Spring Specialty Conference "Geographic Information Systems and Water Resources VI"
Post Date: Febrary 1, 2010
MOUNTAIN VIEW - Sharing their vision of what is needed to meet water resources challenges in the coming decade, a panel of leading professionals and researchers spanning regional and federal government, industry, and academia come together for a strategic discussion. What is possible with new and emerging information technologies to help us respond effectively and creatively to those challenges? The panel discussion will tie to the plenary address by Jack Dangermond on the kind of information framework needed to handle the diverse and complex requirements of water resources management. What needs are shared by the inter-related challenges facing water supply, water quality, flood risk, environmental monitoring, protection, and restoration in a context of water/energy tradeoffs, climate change and uncertainty?
For more information on the conference, visit: http://www.awra.org/meetings/Florida2010/oral.html
From AQUA TERRA, Paul Duda and John Imhoff will be presenting the following talks:
Talk 1: BASINS 4.0 - Overview and Recent Developments
Paul Duda, AQUA TERRA Consultants, Decatur, GA (co-authors: Daniel P. Ames, James N. Carleton)
Session 10 - BASINS
American Water Resources Association
2010 SPRING SPECIALTY CONFERENCE
GIS & Water Resources VI
March 29 – 31, 2010
Orlando, Florida
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) is a multipurpose environmental analysis system designed for use by regional, state, and local agencies performing watershed and water quality-based studies. It was developed by the EPA's Office of Water to facilitate examination of environmental information, to support analysis of environmental systems, and to provide a framework for examining management alternatives. BASINS integrates environmental data, analytical tools, and modeling programs under a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment to support development of solutions to watershed management problems and environmental protection issues, including development of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). The current release of BASINS, version 4.0, is the first to be based primarily on a non-proprietary, open-source GIS foundation. By using open-source GIS tools and non- proprietary data formats, the core of BASINS is now independent of any proprietary GIS platform while still accommodating users of several different GIS software platforms. The use of open source software provides BASINS with greater stability and transparency because the source code for all components is available to developers and end users. The open-source framework of BASINS is designed around an extensible architecture that readily allows for the addition of new capabilities. BASINS encompasses a growing suite of watershed and water quality models, from sophisticated broad-spectrum watershed models to agricultural models to planning and management level models. New data types and analysis tools also continue to be added to BASINS. Most of these additions are in the form of plug-ins, allowing BASINS capabilities to expand without issuing a new release each time a new feature is added. This flexibility enables BASINS to continue evolving to meet the changing needs of the watershed management community.
Talk 2: Development and Demonstration of a Hybrid Modeling Capability within the Fort Benning HSPF Watershed Model: Refinement of Unpaved Road Simulation Using WEPP:Road
John Imhoff, AQUA TERRA Consultants, Ouray, CO (co-authors: John L. Kittle, Jr., Brandon B. Gonzales, Anthony S. Donigian, Jr., Patrick N. Deliman, William J. Elliot, Dennis C. Flanagan)
Session 10 - BASINS
American Water Resources Association
2010 SPRING SPECIALTY CONFERENCE
GIS & Water Resources VI
March 29 – 31, 2010
Orlando, Florida
A four-year project funded by the Strategic Environmental Research Program is in progress to develop a comprehensive watershed management model (using EPA's BASINS modeling system and HSPF watershed model) for Fort Benning, Georgia that addresses impacts on watershed hydrology, water quality and related ecosystems resulting from military activities and natural resources management. An additional objective of the project is to enhance the baseline Fort Benning HSPF watershed model developed during the first two project years to better reflect impacts from military land management. Watershed models and modeling efforts need improved ability to assess management-scale impacts within a larger watershed-scale context. Accordingly, a generalized capability has been developed to perform hybrid model applications in which HSPF can be used for modeling catchment-scale phenomena, while one or more field- or hillslope-scale models featuring more detailed process formulations for specific activities, sources, or land uses are run in parallel to HSPF. Using this hybrid modeling capability, the smaller-scale models provide time series flow and loadings for smaller areas with potentially large runoff or water quality impacts. It is a repeated message throughout forestry literature that road erosion is commonly the largest contributor to sediment production within forest watersheds such those that encompass Fort Benning. Proper understanding, design, construction and management of unpaved roads at Fort Benning require the use of credible methods and models for estimating sediment erosion and its impacts, and these models require a higher level of detail that surpasses the capabilities currently provided by HSPF and similar watershed-scale models. The forestry community considers USDA's WEPP:Road model as the state-of- the art model for estimating runoff and sediment yield from unpaved forest roads. To make available a more robust set of formulations for simulating sediment washoff from Fort Benning's unpaved forest roads, a WEPP:Road application will be presented as a demonstration of the hybrid modeling capability that has been developed for HSPF. This oral presentation will describe the HSPF hybrid model enhancement; describe improvements in representation enabled in WEPP:Road simulation; and compare and discuss results that were achieved by the preliminary HSPF baseline model and the hybrid HSPF/WEPP:Road application.
We hope to see you there!
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