Nutrient Loads to Cayuga Lake, New York: Watershed Modeling on a Budget
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 138, Issue 5
Abstract
Nutrient loads were estimated for the 34 watersheds draining into Cayuga Lake, New York, through use of a watershed model. Financial and human resources were very limited for the project, but significant cost savings were achieved through project decisions. Chief among these were selection of a watershed model that did not require calibration and use of historic water quality monitoring data for model testing. Savings were also obtained by extrapolating soil properties from related information (nutrient contents from organic matter), substituting literature concentrations for missing point source data, extrapolating septic system performance from one area to another, and use of synthetic weather data generated from a model. None of the decisions was remarkable in itself, but together, they permitted a watershed study and its associated modeling to be accomplished with modest resources.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported in part by the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station federal formula funds, Project No. NYC-123410, received from Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 138 • Issue 5 • September 2012
Pages: 571 - 580
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 25, 2011
Accepted: Sep 22, 2011
Published online: Aug 15, 2012
Published in print: Sep 1, 2012
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