Predicting Sediment and Phosphorus Loads in the Rock River Basin Using Swat

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The Rockhrough the promulgation of Administrative Code NR 217, wastewater treatment facilities in Wisconsin must achieve an effluent concentration for phosphorus of 1 mg/L. The administrative code allows for alternative limits if it can be demonstrated that achieving the 1 mg/L limit will not "result in an environmentally significant improvement in water quality…" [NR 217.04(2)(b)1]. In response to NR 217, a group of municipal wastewater treatment facilities initiated the formation of the Rock River Partnership (RRP) to assess water quality management issues within the Rock River Basin in an integrated watershed-based approach. Representative members of the RRP include state agencies, municipal wastewater operators, industries, private citizens, and environmental organizations.The World Resources Institute (WRI) performed an initial study jointly sponsored by the RRP and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). The purpose of the study was to seek water quality solutions across all media, and not just pursue additional reductions from point sources. Results indicated that nutrient trading or pollutant trading was a viable option to meet the water quality objectives for the Rock River Basin. Based on results of the WRI study, a second more detailed study was funded jointly by the RRP and WDNR to look at the basin in more detail. A significant

Identifying Nutrient Contributors in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain Blackwater Rivers

“…A watershed model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (Winchell et al, 2009), was used to perform systematic analysis of these nutrient parameters to support the water quality evaluation and management plans for the LCFR watershed in North Carolina. SWAT model is a wellestablished watershed scale hydrologic model which has been used in numerous water quality assessment studies worldwide (Borah, et al, 2006;Busteed et al, 2009;Jha et al, 2007;Kirsh et al, 2002;Ouyang et al, 2008;Niraula et al, 2012;Veith et al, 2005).…”

Evaluation of the Swat Model on a Coastal Plain Agricultural Watershed

“…The model has been applied to watersheds of varying size, from the 598,538 km 2 Rio Grande/Rio Bravo river basin (Srinivasan et al, 1997) to a 5.5 km 2 watershed in north−central Kentucky (Spruill et al, 2000). Additional testing of the model has been conducted on a 9,708 km 2 watershed in Wisconsin (Kirsch et al, 2002), a 21.3 km 2 watershed in Mississippi (Bingner, 1996), watersheds from 3.3 to 113.4 km 2 in west−central Indiana (Smithers and Engel, 1996), and a 39.5 km 2 watershed in northeastern Pennsylvania (Peterson and Hamlett, 1998). In most cases, the prediction accuracy was satisfactory to obtain working knowledge of the hydrologic system and the processes occurring in the watersheds.…”

Tillage Practices Usage in Early Warning Prediction of Atrazine Pollution

“…Larose et al (2007) reported similar results for daily and monthly NSE for the Cedar Creek subbasin within the St. Joseph watershed. White and Chaubey (2005) and Kirsch et al (2002) reported similar results for stream flow calibration using SWAT for water-sheds in Arkansas and Wisconsin, respectively. The slight difference in average R 2 and NSE, in comparison with other researchers, assuming similar uncertainties, may be a result of differences in the data used for the calibration and validation periods, and possibly an enhanced impact from the integration of mapped tillage trends.…”