Alternative Land-Use Method for Spatially Informed Watershed Management Decision Making Using SWAT
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 12
Abstract
In this study, a modification is proposed to the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to enable identification of areas where the implementation of best management practices would likely result in the most significant improvement in downstream water quality. To geospatially link potential locations to individual land owners, a land-use layer that incorporated specific crops and crop rotations needed to be developed. Model results obtained using the new land-use layer are compared to those obtained using a more conventional land-use layer. Results indicate that water flow and nutrient loadings are similar at the basin outlet, confirming the overall consistency of the approach. Water flow results at upland subbasin outlets appear similar; however, nutrient loadings are different since the crop distributions in the alternative approach are more representative of actual practice in the basin. These results suggest that the alternative, crop-rotation-specific method can be used to provide additional information for spatially resolved decision making regarding nutrient loading and downstream nutrient concentrations.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Balaji Ramakrishnan, from Shaw Environmental, for his role in gathering data and providing calibration parameters as part of a previous collaborative study. The authors also acknowledge the contributions of the East Fork Watershed Cooperative, including Matthew T. Heberling and Hale Thurston from the USEPA-ORD-NRML; Lori Hillman, Melody Dragoo, and Gigi Andrews from the USDA’s Farm Services and NRCS; Paul Braasch, Eric Heiser, Hannah Gonzalez, John McManus, and Kevin Saunders from Clermont County; Paul Gledhill and Diana Zimmerman from the Ohio EPA. Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official positions and policies of the USEPA. Any mention of products or trade names does not constitute a recommendation for use by the USEPA.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 12 • December 2013
Pages: 1413 - 1423
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 19, 2012
Accepted: Aug 2, 2013
Published online: Aug 5, 2013
Published in print: Dec 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Jan 5, 2014
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